[dba-Tech] Slow Light

186,000 mi/sec is the speed of light in a vacuum.  In other media it is
slower.

Sometimes radiation can go faster than the speed of light!  But not really -
Google "Cherenkov Radiation'.

And there is something that can move faster than the speed of light.  If you
insert a plane perpendicular to the propagation of a spreading wave of light
and then take a section perpendicular to that plane in the plane of the
light source, the convex curved wave front of the propagating light
intersects that line at two points which spread outward as the curved wave
front passes it.  The two points of intersection actually move outward
faster than the speed of light.  Simply geometry demonstrates this.

But it's actually a mathematical construct.  Although that point of
intersection does move faster than the speed of light, apparently it doesn't
violate relativity.

Rocky

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arthur Fuller" <artful at rogers.com>
To: "'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'"
<dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 12:32 PM
Subject: [dba-Tech] Slow Light


> Really way OT even for this list, but I just had to share it. Light has
> been observed (under special conditions) to travel as slowly as 91 m/s
> (meters per second). The phenomenon of slow light was discovered several
> years ago but we don't have real-world applications yet. So the next
> time some smart ass says the speed of light is 186 miles/second you can
> reply, "It depends." :-)
>
> http://www.aip.org/tip/INPHFA/vol-9/iss-5/p20.html
>
> Arthur
>
>
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