Light

The heaviest anchor of Physics is light.

Lando Asisten, Jr. and I have been contemplating recently on the foundations and frontiers of math and physics. (Lando is a genius Pinoy mathematician. Among his feats is a perfect score in Praxis Test, an international standard licensure examination and certification for teachers [1].) As a start, we are looking at the properties of light. After all, light should illuminate our way forward.

It has been widely believed that time is the great equalizer. All of us have 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week and so on. Technically speaking, this is false. Einstein's Relativity made it so. Instead, what is constant is light, or specifically, the speed of light. At least, this is the currently accepted principle among modern physicists.

When I checked the literatures, it appears that physicists eventually agreed to make the speed of light constant. The next question is, if it is constant, what is the value? Interestingly enough, the constant value varied or evolved through the years as a consequence of refinement on measurement experiments. The currently accepted value is 299,792,458 m/s (or about 186,000 miles per second) which was adopted only in 1983 [2]. The first experiment was done in 1676 by Ole Christensen Roemer, a Danish astronomer. Roemer made his calculations by observing the motion of Jupiter. [3]

We intend to join the fray. Our approach is a more intuitive way. Find first the value of the speed of light and if the values are the same wherever, then the speed of light is constant.

From the Cerebral Laboratory of the Institute of Math and Science in Ohio and Maryland, we came up with following Asisten-delaTorre Equation for the Speed of Light, c.

A is a fixed point while B is a point in space equidistant from A. Hence, B is the set of points on a spherical surface domain.

Time t is equal to the quotient of distance CD and film belt speed r. CD is the distance on a constantly moving film belt perpendicular to the path AB. C is the starting point while D is the point where light hits the belt first. The measurement is valid when the film belt is equal or greater than the speed of light. With some tinkering on this speed range, we may be able to demonstrate the wave-particle duality of light, hence offering us a glimpse of both the realm of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. This can be observed from the print that the light would make on the film belt.

If the film belt is too slow, the light may hit it very close to C or at point C itself which makes C = D. This is the lower limit of the experiment.

Why are we proposing this? Well, we could see shady areas in the previous experiments. If you are curious, maybe you should contact us. If you do, you are probably a brilliant scientist.

Or a psychiatrist.

And your common message is: wake up!

...

References:

1] ETS. 2008. Praxis Test. http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.fab2360b1645a1de9b3a0779f1751509/?vgnextoid=48c05ee3d74f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&WT.ac=Praxis+Brochure+and+Front+Door. Last accessed: July 29, 2008.

2] University of California-Riverside Mathematics Department. 2008. How is the speed of light measured? http://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/SpeedOfLight/measure_c.html.

Last accessed: July 29, 2008.

3] Hawking, S. 1998. Space and Time. A Brief History of Time, Chapter 2, p. 19.