3 ms·
They are the same, because there’s no such thing as the “speed of light”. Theoretically as I understand it, everything moves at exactly the same speed through
by d1sxeyes 3y ago
They are the same, because there’s no such thing as the “speed of light”.
Theoretically as I understand it, everything moves at exactly the same speed through space-time, whether it is light, the Earth, etc.
At non-relativistic speeds, this means moving along the time axis at approximately one second per second, with the rest of the movement in space. At relativistic speeds, higher proportions of the “speed” of an object are along the time axis.
As the energy requirements for moving massive objects through space at relativistic speeds are huge, we can only really observe this phenomenon with light, which has no mass, and therefore does not need huge amounts of energy to move through space.
As a result, we call 186k miles per second the “speed of light” when actually it is just the maximum speed anything can travel through space, and due to light being massless, it happens to be the speed that light travels through space too.
- anon291 3y agoThis is my understanding as well. All massless particles must travel at the speed of light (they cannot be slowed down) and moreover, they must travel at the speed of light in all reference frames. Whereas massive particles can remain at rest. There's no such thing as an unmoving photon.
- d1sxeyes 3y agoMy point is subtly different, I think. The point I’m trying to make is that if you’re “at rest” in space, all of your movement is through time. If you are “at rest” in time, all of your movement is through space. As far as I understand it, having mass is basically a result of moving more slowly through space.