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Physics Explained: Here's Why The Speed of Light

Is The Speed of Light
DAVID NIELD 13 APRIL 2017

The speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 metres per second, a

figure scientists finally agreed on in 1975 – but why settle on that
figure? And why does it matter?

Answering those questions takes us on an amazing journey through

space, time, physics and measurement, and the tale hasn't quite been
told yet. Modern-day studies are calling into question the speed of
light for the first time in centuries.
To start at the start though, some history: at the beginning of the 17th
century, the general consensus was that light didn't have a speed, that
it just appeared instantaneously, either present or not.

During the 1600s this idea was seriously challenged. First, by Dutch
scientist Isaac Beeckman in 1629, who set up a series of mirrors
around a gunpowder explosions to see if observers noticed any
difference in the when the flashes of light appeared.

Unfortunately for Beeckman and the progress of science, the results

were inconclusive, but then in 1676 Danish astronomer Ole Rømer
noticed strange variations in the eclipse times of one of Jupiter's
moons over the course of a year.

Could this be because light took a longer time to travel from Jupiter
when Earth was further away? Rømer thought so, and his rough
calculations put the speed of light at about 220,000 kilometres per
second – not a bad estimate at all, especially considering the data he
would have had on planet sizes wasn't all that accurate.

Further experiments with beams of light on our own planet edged

scientists closer to the right number, and then in the mid-1800s
physicist James Clerk Maxwell introduced his Maxwell's equations –
ways of measuring electric and magnetic fields in a vacuum.
Maxwell's equations fixed the electric and magnetic properties of
empty space, and after noting that the speed of a massless
electromagnetic radiation wave was very close to the supposed speed
of light, Maxwell suggested they might match exactly.

It turns out Maxwell was right, and for the first time we could measure
the speed of light based on other constants in the Universe.

At the same time, Maxwell's work strongly suggested that light was
itself an electromagnetic wave, and after this idea was confirmed, it
got picked up by Albert Einstein in 1905 as part of his theory of special
relativity.

Today the speed of light, or c as it's commonly known, is considered

the cornerstone of special relativity – unlike space and time, the speed
of light is constant, independent of the observer.

What's more, this constant underpins much of what we understand

about the Universe. It matches the speed of a gravitational wave, and
yes, it's the same c that's in the famous equation E=mc2.

We don't just have the word of Maxwell and Einstein for what the
speed of light is, though. Scientists have measured it by bouncing
lasers back from objects and watching the way gravity acts on planets,
and all these experiments come up with the same figure.

However, the story doesn't quite end there, thanks to quantum

theory, that branch of physics hinting that the Universe might not be
quite as constant as we think.
 Quantum field theory says that a vacuum is never really empty: it's
filled with elementary particles, rapidly popping in and out of
existence. These particles create electromagnetic ripples along the
way, the hypothesis goes, and could potentially cause variations in the
speed of light.

Studies into these ideas are ongoing, and we don't know for sure one
way or the other yet. For now, the speed of light remains the same as
it has for centuries, constant and fixed... but watch this space.

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