Electricity "can" go as fast as light, but in the applications we use it in actualy moves rather slow.
This because your dealing with free electrons moving trough solid conductors that are alread filled with electrons.

Its like trying to shove 1 specific water molecule trough a waterhose thats already filled with water. Before you ever get that one molecule you put in at one end comes out the other end, a whole bunch of other molecules already came out.

Then, as they stated in the article, the light arrives before it even left, which implies that instead of going faster then the speed of light, they must have warped space/time.

Which doesn't contradict Einstein at all but actualy confirms the theory of Relativity.

Time, Space, speed of light, its all relative depending on all the factors.

The speed of light is constant but if you warp the time/space this light travels trough, it goes faster for the outside observer yet doesn't really go faster relative to the space and time its located in.

Relativity is prone to giving people headaches, but once you understand how simple it really is, its actualy alot of fun.

[edit on 13/6/06 by thematrix]

Google the difference between group and phase velocities, I think that will help you out.

Special relativity is straightforward mathematically...general relativity is not straightforward mathematically, and I would never call GR simple.

You are all smarter than me about those speed of light things. But I'm wondering what if their discovery was due to the measuring equipment they were using. That sensitive electron microscope mentioned in the article, let's say the particle travel so fast from one point to the other before that microscope has time to flip to the next clock cycle, so the hardware get confused and report the light as arriving before it left? Just my unenlightened 2 cents.

Originally posted by thematrix
Electricity "can" go as fast as light, but in the applications we use it in actualy moves rather slow.
This because your dealing with free electrons moving trough solid conductors that are alread filled with electrons.

Thanks for all the replies, if as you say above electricity can travel at the speed of light (in a vacuum?) doesnt this then point out that perhaps there are things out there that are able to go faster than c. If mass increases as you near the speed of c would this be the reason space/time is warped? Does the mass of electrons increase if they travel at c?
Thanks for the links, guess ill have a bit of reading to do. Perhaps a thread of Physics for dummies would help me out lol.

Cheers Byrd i always appreciate your input.

M4S

Originally posted by ufia
You are all smarter than me about those speed of light things. But I'm wondering what if their discovery was due to the measuring equipment they were using. That sensitive electron microscope mentioned in the article, let's say the particle travel so fast from one point to the other before that microscope has time to flip to the next clock cycle, so the hardware get confused and report the light as arriving before it left? Just my unenlightened 2 cents.

I'm not sure what you're referring to, but the speed of light can be derived from Maxwell's equations. Special relativity was sitting within the Maxwell's equations, and Einstein absolutely loved electromagnetic theory, so that's where he came up with his postulates.