On 8/11/2011 2:54 AM, meekerdb wrote:
On 8/10/2011 11:24 PM, Stephen P. King wrote:
And interesting choice of examples since that exactly what man has
done. The speed of light is nothing but a conversion constant
between units. In 1983 the speed of light in SI units was *defined*
to be 299,792,458 m/s.
Umm, not so fast. The permitivity and permiability of the vacuum
are not set by prior theory! It is still only a known fact due to
measurement.
No. The length of the meter was set as the distance traveled by light
in 1/299792458 of a second. So permitivity and permiabilty are not
fundamental but are derived values (for the vacuum).
Brent
Hi Brent,
Seriously? The speed of light in a vacuum is proportional to the
ration of permeability to permittivity of the vacuum (see Maxwell's
equations). Those quantities are not derived from any theory. So we
measure the time it takes a beam of light to travel some distance in a
vacuum.... how is the vacuum achieved? What determines the accuracy of
the clocks used? We can go around and around on this, for what? In your
accounting what defined that the speed of light in SI units is not
299,792,458.000000000000000000000000001212423452345 m/s or
299,792,458.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000004567 m/s or ... ?
Onward!
Stephen
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