To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Monday, April 11, 2005
Although it might be a good idea...
... the speed of light might not actually be the law.
We all remember high school physics, right? One of the first constants we learned was the speed of light.
Eh. Maybe not. By studying the light coming from distant quasars, some scientists believe that the way that certain wavelengths are absorbed. In simple terms? The speed of light might have changed over time.
Scientists believe that the fine structure constant has changed by 0.001%. Big whoop, right? Wrong.
We all remember high school physics, right? One of the first constants we learned was the speed of light.
the speed of light = 299,792,458 m / s
Remember that? Probably not. You probably learned it this way:
the speed of light = 3 x 108m/s
No matter how you remember it, the one thing you probably remember is that it never changes. It's always the same. It's the law. Right?Eh. Maybe not. By studying the light coming from distant quasars, some scientists believe that the way that certain wavelengths are absorbed. In simple terms? The speed of light might have changed over time.
Scientists believe that the fine structure constant has changed by 0.001%. Big whoop, right? Wrong.
If true, it means that something called the fine structure constant - a measure of the strength of electromagnetic force that holds atoms together - has changed by about 0.001% since the big bang. The speed of light depends on the fine structure constant. If one varies with time then the other probably does too, meaning Einstein got it wrong.What does this mean for Joe Normal? Not one darn thing. What does this mean for the scientific community? It means that they have a lot of thinking to do, reworking theories that they thought they had finished with long ago. Oh, yeah... it also probably means guaranteed employment for the foreseeable future.
