- #1
thetexan
- 269
- 12
I feel a little like the kid that, when his dad tells him that he has to water the plants, asks 'why daddy'...to which dad replies 'because the plants need water to live'...to which the kid asks 'why daddy'...and it goes on and on. Why? Why? Why?
Here is my confusion and my question. If for the purpose of this question I grant that the top speed of light is 186282mps can anyone tell me why it is 186282? Is it simply that that is what nature ended up with as the top speed of the photon? Or, it there a limiting factor that prevents the photon from going faster if it wanted to?
Could it have just as easily ended up being 200000mps? Or is there something that stops the photon from going faster?
This seems a bit like trying to use a word for which we are looking for a definition in the definition itself. It seems to me that to say that the photon cannot be pushed beyond 186282 then that means there is a force or limiting cause that stops the added speed. That's fine for me but then the question becomes...why is that 'stopping or limiting thing' locked in at 186282? Why not 213765? Or 543998? What is special about 186282?
We know the speed limit exists...but why 186262?
Here is another way of asking the question. Relativity requires that there be a speed limit. Does relativity care that it is 186282 or just that there is A LIMIT of some value? If the value was 200000 would it be allowed by the theory?
tex
Here is my confusion and my question. If for the purpose of this question I grant that the top speed of light is 186282mps can anyone tell me why it is 186282? Is it simply that that is what nature ended up with as the top speed of the photon? Or, it there a limiting factor that prevents the photon from going faster if it wanted to?
Could it have just as easily ended up being 200000mps? Or is there something that stops the photon from going faster?
This seems a bit like trying to use a word for which we are looking for a definition in the definition itself. It seems to me that to say that the photon cannot be pushed beyond 186282 then that means there is a force or limiting cause that stops the added speed. That's fine for me but then the question becomes...why is that 'stopping or limiting thing' locked in at 186282? Why not 213765? Or 543998? What is special about 186282?
We know the speed limit exists...but why 186262?
Here is another way of asking the question. Relativity requires that there be a speed limit. Does relativity care that it is 186282 or just that there is A LIMIT of some value? If the value was 200000 would it be allowed by the theory?
tex