Timeline for Why $c$ is $3\times10^8$ times faster than a $1\ \mathrm{m/s}$ car?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 7, 2015 at 15:35 | comment | added | Luboš Motl | Yes, it makes sense, and by equations governing the motion of the electron, we can show that the question is equivalent to the question why the fine-structure constant $e^2/4\pi\epsilon_0 \hbar c$ or what is the formula is equal to $1/137$. Today, we can't calculate this number from the first principles but we know how to compute it from more fundamental numbers, couplings of the electroweak theory at the high scale, and renormalization group running. A full theory - which really means string theory plus the information about the right vacuum - in principle allows one to calculate it exactly. | |
| Jun 7, 2015 at 10:55 | comment | added | Omar Nagib | Is it be meaningful to ask why the speed of light is 137 times faster than an electron? why not 126 times or $10^6$ or any other $x$ times faster? I think both the speed of light and an electron are part of fundamental physics. | |
| Jun 7, 2015 at 4:41 | comment | added | Luboš Motl | Thanks and the answer to your question about editing is pretty much No, I don't understand it. Whether two questions have the "same" $c$ is a physically meaningless question because $c$ is dimensionful. Whether they have the same $c/v_{\rm car}$ depends on the identification of "the car" in both Universes. As I already described, there is no way to decide what is the right way and what is the wrong way. Adult physicists work with units with $c=1$ so $c$ is the same in all (relativistic) Universes because mathematical constants like 1 are constant across universes, independently of physics. | |
| Jun 6, 2015 at 17:06 | vote | accept | Omar Nagib | ||
| Jun 6, 2015 at 16:27 | comment | added | Omar Nagib | Firstly, thank you for your answer, Secondly, can you edit your question so as to address the (EDIT) section I added? | |
| Jun 6, 2015 at 16:09 | history | answered | Luboš Motl | CC BY-SA 3.0 |