Another Question

[TeenageRepublican]

Okay. I just thought of another question. What is the speed of darkness? And, if you were in pitch darkness and going at the same speed as it, what would happen if you turned on a flashlight or something like that? I don't know where these questions keep popping up in my mind.

[Gonzo67]

Speed of darkness? Darkness has no speed. Darkness is simply the absence of light.

Stop eating the erasers :)

[Elgalad]

I'm glad you brought up this subject, TR. :thumb:

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question but this reminds me..

When I was studying electronic theory in the Marines, one of my instructors posed a question something along these lines:

How do we know that light sources Produce light? Photonic theory is only that, a theory. Photons can be detected, yes, but they can't be accurately measured because when you attempt to do so, you change either where they are (position), how fast they are moving (velocity), or their direction (vector).. :question:

He went on to propose that a much more elegant explanation of visible light is that light sources (lamps) were in actuality, "darkness absorbers" and that rather than producing light, they were sucking in all the darkness around them (sort of like a black hole only.. selective).

I should probably point out somewhere here, that he was a Naval Instructor (Sailor). :smirky:

Even so, see if you can find some holes in his theory. :shame:



-Elgalad

[DoctorDoom]

The Dark Sucker Theory Page (http://pw1.netcom.com/~rogermw/darksucker.html)

Light is the absence of dark.

[Rhino]

9

[Wolfcounsel]

"I should probably point out somewhere here, that he was a Naval Instructor (Sailor). :smirky:" --Elgalad

Oh yeah? What does a Jarhead need electronics for? Those bullets you guys fire are inert, lead projectiles.:evilgrin:


:patriot:

[TeenageRepublican]

It was something my dumbass friend Pierce brought up. He said darkness is twice the speed of light. Since I don't know a thing about speeds of light, I decided to ask you guys.

[Elgalad]

"I should probably point out somewhere here, that he was a Naval Instructor (Sailor). :smirky:" --Elgalad

Oh yeah? What does a Jarhead need electronics for? Those bullets you guys fire are inert, lead projectiles.:evilgrin:


:patriot:

Well we DO also use radios..

.. to ask for more targets when we run out.
.
.
http://smilies.vidahost.com/contrib/sarge/Blasting_anim.gif
.
.

And the nearest Radio Shack is usually about 5000 km away when that happens. :smirky:


-Elgalad

[Franko]

I'm glad you brought up this subject, TR. :thumb:

How do we know that light sources Produce light? Photonic theory is only that, a theory. Photons can be detected, yes, but they can't be accurately measured because when you attempt to do so, you change either where they are (position), how fast they are moving (velocity), or their direction (vector).. :question:

Analogy from a Paul Davies book, something along these lines:

The energy needed to make the observation is equivalent to throwing a mountain at an airplane ...

[Wolfcounsel]

Light is a frequency that travels at a certain speed. It is detectable to us because of our eyes. Darkness is of a frequency immeasurable by anything in our possession. Yet it is there, as in pitch dark, and it travels also. We also can detect levels of darkness mixed in with levels of light. The rapid change of frequency from light to dark, as in a strobe, can cause some people to start an epileptic episode.

[DesertFox]

Since darkness is the absence of light, then darkness only exists when there is no light. So darkness exists, as does light, at the speed of light. Example: If I'm a light year from the only light source and it begins emitting at time X, I'm still in darkness until the light arrives at X + 1, even though the light exists an entire year before it gets to me.

[Wolfcounsel]

Yes, there are many things that travel at the speed of light, but how many things travel faster, if not millions of times faster than light? They have to be 'way beyond our technology to detect and measure.

[DesertFox]

'Cordin' to Einstein, nothing in our universe travels faster than light speed. You could take a shortcut across spacetime and get someplace before a ray of light that also took off at your starting point, but you wouldn't be traveling faster than light; you'd be traveling shorter than light. :lol:

There is some reason to think that signals can travel backwards in time. If they can, they're effectively traveling instantaneously. In that case, the farther away something is, the faster those signals are traveling in multiples of lightspeed.