Has speed of light and time been consistent over history of universe?

Has speed of light and time been consistent over history of universe? Just curious. I know some religious people think world is 6000 years old. Is it possible time has changed and the world is 6k years old if time and speed of light changed in those 6k years?

reply to post by Xeven

We aren't completely sure. Here's a paper on a couple variable speed of light ideas:

Variable Speed of Light Theories

The main consequence of the first idea is that maybe the expansion of the universe isn't accelerating. In this event it would still be billions and billions of years old, which we thought even before we determined the expansion was accelerating.

The second idea allows for a possible variation in the speed of light by 10-15%, which there's no good evidence for that I've seen, but even if that was true, a 15% variation would not get 14 billion years down to 6000 years.

I suspect any other alternate theories would have that same problem. The difference between 14 billion years and 6000 years is just too great to explain, plus, we have pretty good evidence the Earth is much older than 6000 years old, like tens of thousands of years of ice cores (sort of like the polar ice version tree ring age dating). So whether the speed of light is constant is less than completely certain. But that the Earth is over 6000 years old, I don't think I'm going out on too much of a limb by stating that's fairly certain. As one scientist said, the only way the Earth could be 6000 years old, is if God made it 6000 years ago in a way to appear billions of years old, though he wondered why God would do such a thing.

Also, time is variable according to relativity, which is well proven. Scientists can now put one clock a meter higher than another clock and measure the time difference. This is well supported with observational evidence, but again won't compress 14 billion years into 6000, unless perhaps you're just outside the event horizon of a black hole, which we aren't. An observer A near the black hole might only experience 6000 years, while an outside immortal observer B would experience 14 billion years over the same time interval, but if observer B could see Observer A's clock, they would see it tick off 6000 years while their own clock showed the passage of 14 billion years.

reply to post by Xeven


A very astute question and an alternative would be has the dimensional parameters that formulate our reality remaind unchanged since the universe as we know it began and I for one suspect not, many paranormal and other experiences as well as memory of a past that no longer exists may indicate that the universe is or may be dimensionally unstable, maybe it is growing more stable or less stable as it expands and this is something we can not observe easily so an analysis of this phenomenon may not be soon forthcoming but someone OUT there may know.
Is our reality dimensionally pourus and are we fixed in time and space or does the nature of the dimensional structure of the universe undergo a kind of seperation and rearrangement as the universe expands (if it is expanding) or ages.

the speed of light as recorded on earth has changed twice since measurements began,
every ten years or so the average recorded (experiments conducted across many labs) speed of light is averaged and printed in scientific journals.

it has changed by aprox 20mps twice.

xploder

reply to post by XPLodER


People should really use the term cosmic speed limit rather than the speed of light. Light can travel at the cosmic speed limit under the right circumstances. Sometimes it is slower but never faster.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


ya sometimes Higgs is a little slower around curves,,,

There are some really good experiments that show that under certain conditions the speed of light is can be made slower than 186,000 miles per second. There are also some really good mathematical models that make clear that is can be faster under certain conditions. In context it is possible that I we developed a space craft capable of traveling from here to the Andromeda Galaxy at the speed of light. At some time the crew could very well notice an acceleration beyond 186,000 miles per second.

I do not belong to a culture that supports the idea that the Universe began 6000 to 80000 years ago. If anything I would (base upon that interpretation of history),I concur with conservative science.

Meaning that I personally believe that essentially human life started about 250,000 years ago. However in these teachings, it is suggested that there are indications of human like behavior as far back as a million years ago (like
burring the dead, caring for the elderly, maintain records related to events and so on)

In context once one enters a void, in a craft, where the nearest mass if several light years way. The vessel in question will accelerate to a point about 10 to 15% faster and actually decelerate to 186,000 miles per second naturally. This being when it gets closer to an object (like another Galaxy), with mass ( to be honest depending upon the size of the void, it could be as much a 50% faster that that of light or 279,000 miles per second).

From a personal standpoint I doubt seriously that the Universe was created 6 to 8 thousand years ago.

Any thoughts?

reply to post by Xeven

Pretty much the answer is no. The speed of light changes yearly if the standard measurements are any guide. Look up "The Atomic Constants, Light, and Time" There is scientific evidence to show c is in fact slowing down.

Xeven
Has speed of light and time been consistent over history of universe? Just curious. I know some religious people think world is 6000 years old. Is it possible time has changed and the world is 6k years old if time and speed of light changed in those 6k years?

Despite what some people who should know better (and many others who refuse to) say, the speed of light (as in, the maximum possible speed limit, which is the same as the only invariant speed limit, which is the same as the speed all massless particles move at) does not and can not change.

The exact reason is beyond the scope of a non-scientific discussion, but basically the idea is that when things are properly written, any change in the speed of light would be exactly cancelled out by changes that would cause elsewhere. The reasons have been well-understood since the 1920s or so. There really isn't any doubt about this.

reply to post by Moduli


Huh???

Light, which normally travels the 240,000 miles from the Moon to Earth in less than two seconds, has been slowed to the speed of a minivan in rush-hour traffic -- 38 miles an hour

Source

Any thoughts?

reply to post by Xeven


Possible. In the eyes of ignorant people.

(I was just kidding)

peace.

Xeven
Is it possible time has changed and the world is 6k years old if time and speed of light changed in those 6k years?

Isn't our measure of time simply a measure of change anyway?

Ergo if time was moving faster it would relatively make no difference unless there was some external measurement of time? The world would still have orbited the same number of times etc ... Correct me if am wrong.

Kashai
reply to post by Moduli

 

Huh???

Light, which normally travels the 240,000 miles from the Moon to Earth in less than two seconds, has been slowed to the speed of a minivan in rush-hour traffic -- 38 miles an hour

Source

Any thoughts?

I'll take an uneducated shot. The speed of light is not said to be "constant". The speed of light in a vacuum is a mathematical constant. There is a difference.

When people talk about "the speed of light" in a general context, they usually mean the speed of light in a vacuum. This quantity is also referred to as c.
math.ucr.edu...

No one I know of implies that light can't be slowed down.

reply to post by Xeven


I've thought the same thing before. I think it may not be consistent. I also think that the rate of radioactive decay may not consistent either. The strength of gravity as well. Many of the laws of physics may have evolved over time. I have also thought before that these laws of physics which are evolving are different in different places. That's to say things may be slightly different outside of our solar system and surprisingly different in other galaxies.

It's an interesting concept to think about. Interesting thread OP.

reply to post by XPLodER


Where are you getting that from? The speed of light is suppose to be a constant.. That's why just recently when a few scientist brought forth data that it's actually slowing.. It caused quite the stir.. There are numerous sites talking about it.. Do a google and find one that you deem reputable..

In the dimensions we represent with symbolic mathematics, the speed of light is unchanged. However, in other dimensions, such as the dimension of my consciousness, it's just a concept and not real at all. When I die, all light will cease to exist and therefore have no speed. So there you go.

reply to post by Xeven

A physicist named Gerald Shroeder says its relative to where you are in the universe.

He postulates that due to time dilation and the stretching of space that has occurred since The Big Bang, that time at the origin was only 6 days in length even though the rest of the universe, being in different areas of space-time, would experience a much longer duration.

DenyObfuscation
No one I know of implies that light can't be slowed down.

There are physicists who imply that from a certain perspective.

Do Photons Move Slower in a Solid Medium?

There are two things you can discuss:
1. Measurements of the speed of light through non-vacuum material (like glass for example) on a macro basis
2. The behavior of individual photons within a non-vacuum material (like glass) on a quantum scale

In case #1 one might say the measured speed of light in a non vacuum is less than c
In case #2 the link above implies that the speed of any individual photon is always the speed of light, even in the non-vacuum media discussed where the speed of light appears to slow down on a larger scale.

As that link describes it can get a little complicated.

reply to post by Arbitrageur

Moral of the story: the properties of a solid that we are familiar with have more to do with the "collective" behavior of a large number of atoms interacting with each other. In most cases, these do not reflect the properties of the individual, isolated atoms.

From you link.

Phonons as in not gravity?

This is very interesting though Arbitrageur I saw a documentary that applied what apparently is the wrong conclusion. I am considering that such an issue could be very frustrating to one considering perspectives.

Xeven
Has speed of light and time been consistent over history of universe? Just curious. I know some religious people think world is 6000 years old. Is it possible time has changed and the world is 6k years old if time and speed of light changed in those 6k years?

The math says it is constant and that math has held up. In regards to injecting a "religious" point of view, it doesn't quite follow since that point of view was based upon faith and not a scientific fact in which is measured. Not saying it is wrong, as one man's faith is their own, but we have measured and observed the speed of light to be constant.

Here is a question to you: Is it possible that due to the lack of knowledge (maybe lack is the wrong word; absence is better), scholars derived the origins based upon what they knew at the time?