| From: Duane Galle | 23/02/99
14:58:40 |
| Subject: Speed of Darkness | post id:
1942 |
| If the speed of light is known,
what is the speed of darkness? The two opposing schools of thought that
have developed are: 1. Darkness does not move, it is always present, and light is layed on top of it. (As an analogy, consider a table as being darkness, a tablecloth as being light: when you pull the tablecloth off, the table itself (darkness) doesn't move). 2. Darkness moves at the same speed as light, and it meets the laws of motion in that Darkness is the equal and opposite reaction for the action of the movement of light. Personally I can appreciate both arguements, but firmly consider 1. to be the closest to the "truth". Any light you could shed would be appreciated (sorry about the pun, I couldn't help myself). | |
| From: Chris (Avatar) | 25/02/99
13:34:25 |
| Subject: re: Speed of Darkness | post id:
2195 |
Light moves. Darkness is the absence of light and does not. An analogy may help. Heat moves, cold is the absence of heat. You can describe the rate at which you "cool" and infer a "speed of cold" from that. However the physical reality is that only heat moves. Similarly you might infer a "speed of darkness" measuring the rate at which darkness envelopes a room when the light is switched off (for example). But be aware that you are actually "measuring" a function of the speed of light - in the room case it is the speed at which the light leaves the room (ie c for speed of light over n refractive index of room accounting for light exit paths, absorption and reflection at boundaries, etc). By contrast the only thing which actually moves faster than light (apart from the theoretical tachyon) is bad news. Attempts to use bad news as a fuel for FTL starships have stonewalled due to the consequence that wherever you arrive nobody wants to see you. Hope this helps! Chris | |
| From: Chris (Avatar) | 25/02/99
13:58:29 |
| Subject: re: Speed of Darkness | post id:
2207 |
hehe... ;o) Ya, it's almost as good as the buttered bread / cat antigravity machine! Based on the twin principles that buttered bread will always fall face down and cats always land on their feet, consider the consequences of strapping a piece of bread, buttered side up, to the back of a cat, and then dropping it. The twin "device" will hover just above the ground, rapidly rotating as the buttered side of the bread and the cat's feet compete to land on the ground. To create your own hovercraft, merely assemble an array of these "buttered cats", and place you lounge/deck chair/spa on top. It even comes complete with the satisfying "hum" of an engine: the purring of the cats! Hope this is silly! Chris | |
| From: James Richmond (Avatar) | 25/02/99
23:20:28 |
| Subject: re: Speed of Darkness | post id:
2279 |
| A few years ago a friend and I
tried to develop a theory of dark, having exactly the same empirical
content as the accepted theory of light. It involves particles of darkness
which we call darkons - sort of the opposite of
photons. Normal space is chock full of darkons, which make everything look dark. Fortunately, however, we can get rid of darkons in various ways. For example, if you are in a dark room, full of darkons, and turn on what you naively call a "light", the "light bulb" acts as a darkon absorber, sucking up the nearby darkons. Of course, as nearby darkons are absorbed, others move in to fill the gaps, leaving spaces further away. What is the speed of dark? Well, consider how fast darkons are sucked up by any standard darkon absorber. The speed is obviously what we incorrectly refer to as the speed of light. The theory of darkons is at this stage incomplete. After thinking through various consequences of the model, we had a few minor problems with issues such as causality. We are confident that there are ways around such problems, though a radical new physical theory may be needed. JR ;) | |
| From: Chris (Avatar) | 26/02/99
13:18:23 |
| Subject: re: Speed of Darkness | post id:
2312 |
re darkons... James, have you considered an empirical model which might help you in constructing your theory?? Phlogiston?? (however the thing is spelled...!) You could be onto something!! Chris ;o) | |
| From: Dr. Ed G (Avatar) | 26/02/99
14:27:52 |
| Subject: re: Speed of Darkness | post id:
2321 |
| What is the speed
of dark? Well, consider how fast darkons are sucked up by any standard
darkon absorber. The speed is obviously what we incorrectly refer to as
the speed of light. Is the relationship between photons and darkons anything like the relationship between electrons and holes in semiconductors? If so, and given that the mobility/speed of holes in a semiconductor is always less than that of electrons, can you indeed be certain that darkons are as fast as photons? I want someone to do a measurement! Soupie twist, Ed G. | |
| From: Terry Frankcombe | 26/02/99
14:34:51 |
| Subject: re: Speed of Darkness | post id:
2322 |
| One could easily argue that holes
are slowed down because the electrons which define them are moving through
a dense medium (conceptually speaking). The darkons defined by photons are
not moving through any media, so the shuffle of photons to move a darkon
could occure nearly instantaniously, giving you darkon the same or near
the velocity of photons. Indeed, maybe if you do the experiments and your darkons do travel significantly slower than light you have evidence for a medium... the return of the Ether! | |
| From: James Richmond (Avatar) | 9/03/99
20:34:03 |
| Subject: re: Speed of Darkness | post id:
3232 |
| Ed and Terry, to begin to accept
this radical new theory, you have to throw away your ingrained belief in
these "photon" things you keep talking about. You could postulate that a
"photon" is a hole in the darkon sea, but that would really just be an
excuse to return to the old ways of thinking. Oh, and I forgot to mention: There is a lot of evidence that the ancient Muppet race on Mars knew much more about darkons than we can ever hope to comprehend... JR ;) | |
| From: Dr. Ed G (Avatar) | 9/03/99
20:38:10 |
| Subject: re: Speed of Darkness | post id:
3234 |
| Oh, and I forgot
to mention: There is a lot of evidence that the ancient Muppet race on
Mars knew much more about darkons than we can ever hope to
comprehend... You've convinced me now! Soupie twist, Ed G.  | |