Slowing of the speed of light

[JVD]

I recently read an article on the possibility that the speed of light is slowing at a significant rate.

What effect would that have on evolution and creation?

 

[Dark_Lite]

If it means anything... It means the universe is older.

A link to the article or some more information would be nice though.

 

[JVD]

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992650

Above is the article.

Woudn't it mean that the universe is younger? I mean if light traveled faster in the past than it does now we are calculating distance and time on the current speed of light which may be actually a lot slower than it used to be.

I am not a scientist so let me ask the obvious question that is probably simple to those of you who are. What is it that makes us believe that the speed of light is a constant?

 

[Karl - Liberal Backslider]

The amount of change, if there be any, is very small. It really has little, if any, significance for this debate.

We tend to think that c is constant because (a) there's (apart from this highly speculative work) no evidence to suggest otherwise, and (b) it underlies Einstein's relativity theories, and they work rather well.

 

[Dark_Adonis]

I recently read an article on the possibility that the speed of light is slowing at a significant rate.

What effect would that have on evolution and creation?

Depends on what you mean by significant,but it might be able to make the universe a little bit younger.There are some problems though, and I don't think I can stomach such a theory until it is able to explain what happens to the rest mass of various particles...
Now there have been observations on the change in alpha over time and the changes have been a very small increase in alpha, but analysis done after the paper was released appears to show that it is in fact possible for e to increase[1] and that the assumptions made by the paper lead to bad conclusions [2]...

 

[JVD]

Actually, I went through several articles after I did a search. Some people postulate a very significant slowdown measurable even over the last few hundred years.

I just think it is interesting and actually reassuring that some scientists are willing to question some of the most basic foundations of science. I know enough about science to realize that if the speed of light were shown to fluctuate a lot, much of physics would have to be reevaluated.

 

[fragmentsofdreams]

Actually, I went through several articles after I did a search. Some people postulate a very significant slowdown measurable even over the last few hundred years.

I just think it is interesting and actually reassuring that some scientists are willing to question some of the most basic foundations of science. I know enough about science to realize that if the speed of light were shown to fluctuate a lot, much of physics would have to be reevaluated.

I'd be wary of those that postulate a measurable slowdown over a hundred years. The ones that I have seen select results that are above average. Since measurements have gotten more precise with time, the early one's that erred on the high side will err farther. I haven't seen anything that indicates that this effect can be shown to be something other than statistical uncertainty.

 

[Dark_Adonis]

Actually, I went through several articles after I did a search. Some people postulate a very significant slowdown measurable even over the last few hundred years.

I just think it is interesting and actually reassuring that some scientists are willing to question some of the most basic foundations of science. I know enough about science to realize that if the speed of light were shown to fluctuate a lot, much of physics would have to be reevaluated.

I would like to know what you mean by significant... On what order are we talking about?

 

[JVD]

I read some other articles in addition to the one posted above. The other articles seemed to indicate a massive slowing of the speed of light to the current value.

After initial interest I have seen that most of it is someone trying to bend science to fit their understanding of the Bible.

However...the above article is new and does not indicate the amount of slowing.

 

[Godan]

I have a page on my site that has a downloadable Excel file so that you can examine the actual data yourself. There is no significant slowing of the speed of light. The effect described in the Nature article is extremely small. Go to Evidence for God from Science for more info (sorry, can't link yet - just do a search). Once you get to the site, do a search for "speed of light".

 

[Ebed-Yahweh]

More related links:

Speed of light slowing down after all?

Barry Setterfield's Homepage

ON THE CONSTANCY OF THE SPEED OF LIGHT

CBS News Article

WorldNetDaily New Article


I know there are many who are convinced that Einstein was an incomparable genius, if not a holy man, and questioning his sacred ideas is akin to blasphemy, but there are many scientists who have published material against Relativity.

The Single Best Argument Against Special Relativity

Revision of Relativity

Proof of the Falsity of the Special Theory of Relativity

EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF RELATIVITY
SCIENTIFIC THEORY OR ILLUSION?

Alternative Relativity

Metaresearch

Electric Universe Model

Plasma Cosmology

Dayton Miller's Ether-Drift
Experiments: A Fresh Look

Aethro-Kinematics

 

[Null-Geodesic]

The post above is spam. Is this a debate forum or a cranky website advertisement board.

Barry Setterfield = fraud
worldnetdaily = bias
plasma cosmology = falsified

 

[Ebed-Yahweh]

The post above is spam. Is this a debate forum or a cranky website advertisement board.

Barry Setterfield = fraud
worldnetdaily = bias
plasma cosmology = falsified

I agree that worldnetdaily is extremely biased, and I don't recommend it as a regular source of objective news. However, something one must realize is that all sources of information are biased. The concept of objectivity in news, textbooks, etc. is itself a fraud. Every person, every organization, and every institution in this world has an agenda. In the words of Solomon:

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD [Yahweh] pondereth the hearts." (Proverbs 21:2)

Feel free to provide evidence for your other claims.