Recent content by russ_watters

Instructions unclear, so I sprinkled my uranium on toast.

I can't reconcile that with the OP. The OP gave a different (change in) value. But whatever, moving on for now: So the fine structure constant is baked into the structure of the universe, the fine structure constant helps determine C but that doesn't mean C is baked into the structure of the...

The wiki article on the fine structure constant says it is dimensionless and therefore is not dependent on the chosen system of units: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant Be that as it may, @DaveC426913 I've seen the issue of dimensionless constants debated here at a higher...

All of that is fine. Sometimes a question by a B-level person does not have a B-level(high school) answer. If that's the case it's fine to stretch to a higher level while clearly specifying the part that isn't B-level, and that's the gap I'm trying to bridge. But in this case we had people...

I guess I'm not following or there is something I don't understand about those definitions. Is "length" a unit or is "feet" a unit (or both)? Here's what I'm seeing: "Dimensions are physical quantities that can be measured, whereas units are arbitrary names that correlate to particular...

For my part I want to emphasize that truly my participation here is not intended to be argumentative, it's that I think there is a real communication problem between experts and laypeople. In effect I'm trying to bridge a language barrier.

Not true. 'Why is it this value' is the same as 'why isn't it a different value' (higher or lower) -- and the OP did say "whatever speed it is" and "and not faster, such as 188,476". However, I still don't think that should affect the answer: 'It's the value it is in that set of units because...

Busy day.... Thanks. That is the point I'm after, and IMO the real answer to the OP's question. The speed of light (or more specifically C) is different than other speeds so when someone asks about changing it, the real answer is 'you are not allowed to change it because it is baked-into the...

I'm glad we agree on this. So my question is: if you change a value without changing the units, how can that be an issue of choice of units? If I press the accelerator of my car and 30 mph x 2 = 60 mph, how is that an issue of my choice of units?

No, that's the same nonsense. It's attaching a "why" to the speed increase that still doesn't depend on units. If I increase the power of my car by 27% I'll get a 3% increase in speed regardless of the units I choose to measure it in. Again, we're talking about a real change in speed not a...

What is the difference between a dimension and a unit then, if any? (and a "quantity"?) And? I don't know where you are going with this.

Seriously? You learned both the basics of relativity and Maxwell's equations in high school? I didn't, even through two semesters of physics and EE (for engineers) in college.

Nonsense. I can double the speed of my car and the fact that I have doubled the speed of my car does not depend on the units I have chosen to express the speed in. I don't even have to include units in the equation.

I did not learn that in high school.

No we're not. Those are two different answers, not the same answer. Go back and look through the first few posts in the thread. There are a couple that discuss how c is fundamental to the way spacetime works and then....unit systems. And just as bad: "it's defined to be that"(it was of...