Furthermore, we have since changed the unit of measure, making one meter equal to the distance light travels in a vacuum at 1/299,792,458 of a second. Since then we have been able to observe and measure the speed of light in a vacuum with great precision (299,792,458 m/s with a measurement of uncertainty of 4 parts per billion). About 339 years ago Danish Astronomer Ole Rømer determined that light had a finite speed. Why is the speed of light 186,000 miles per second? Is that how fast the ether will allow it to travel?įirst and foremost, the speed of light has been converted into a completely arbitrary unit of measure that we can comprehend. You're welcome to formulate a logically consistent and useful system that does not depend on a prioris but it is a fool's quest. So, keep in mind that some a prioris must exist in science which are axiomatic to the logical system - these are somewhat like articles of "faith" in that they can be defined but not derived from experiment. Science does not need a complete explanation of the nature of things in order to advance and for that reason scientific discovery has exploded in the past two centuries. Protons and electrons have a specific mass, and the ration of their masses is of great importance in science. Take mass or distance or units of time - mass represents a resistance to change in motion but exactly what "mass" is measuring is largely speculation. However, any system of knowledge that is logically consistent will have "defined" elements as part of it that are not strictly verifiable by experiment, nor are they intended to be verifiable. It is not a "religion" to state that water freezes at 32 degrees (sea level pressure etc) because an experiment can be set up to test this declaration by anyone. In science, statements of fact are supposed to be verifiable. The Higgs boson is actually rare in such collisions but enough are expected to be detectable. Each proton is traveling in opposite directions with high kinetic energy when they collide, enough to generate thousands of particles. The rest mass energy is only a part of the total energy in a collision between these two protons. The OP wondered how two protons with a mass much less than the Higgs boson could generate that boson. Just to get some verification of the Higgs required CERN, a massive project using inconceivable energies (but not nearly enough to study more fundamental issues). Human science has come a long way but it did not happen overnight - give it time. Some think all of these universal constants - like the gravitational constant G - are connected at some fundamental level but for now there is no way to show this. There are a number of universal constants for which there is no explanation. Universal constants such as these are observed facts, not a consequence of any theory.Īs such they simply are what they are and we can make use of them without the neccessity of an underlying explanation for them. We know what the value of the constant is, but we don't know why they have the values they do. The situation with Pi is exactly analogous to that of 'c', and there are several other such universal constants. The OP asked why 'c' has the value it does, and the fact is that we don't know, just as we don't know why Pi has the value it has.Īll we do know in both cases is that they are universal constants, and knowing their value is extremely useful. We know what the value of PI is and we know what the value of C is, to a very high degree of precision. The same can be said of 'c', it is similarly a universal constant Yes that's right, and that ratio is a universal constant, having the same value for all circles. In other words it's how many times you can fit the diameter in the circumference of any given circle. Note how the multiplications are arranged to cancel out hours, minutes, and miles.Pi is the ratio of a circles diameter by the circumference. Suppose we start with a speed of 60 mph and want to convert to miles per minute. Rather than tackling the problem at hand, here is a simpler example.
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