• @InnerScientist@lemmy.world
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    511 months ago

    This is slighlty different though, we only know the two-way speed of light, not the one way speed of light.

    We only know that this trip, to and back, takes x seconds. We cannot prove that the trip to the mirror takes the same length of time as the way back.

    The special theory of relativity for example does not depend on the one way speed of light to be the same as the two way speed of light.

    Wiki

    • Flying SquidOP
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      411 months ago

      Why would the one-way speed be different? For what reason? Just because you think it’s possible?

      • @vithigar@lemmy.ca
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        11 months ago

        For no reason. No one is saying that it is different, only that it’s impossible to prove one way or the other. Light traveling the same speed in all directions, and light traveling at 2x c away from an observer and instantaneously on the return, and every other alternative that averages out to c for the round trip, are indistinguishable to any experiment we can conduct.

        • Flying SquidOP
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          -111 months ago

          And it’s impossible to prove that just the exact right type of orange will double the speed of light.

          But there’s no reason to speculate either thing without a reason for the speculation. Your reason seems to be “I think it would be cool.”

          I don’t think you realize it, but this is a very similar argument to “you can’t prove God doesn’t exist.”

          • @vithigar@lemmy.ca
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            411 months ago

            Take 30 seconds to at least glance at the article the other user posted. It’s not just myself, there are plenty of very interested physicists who also find the unprovability of the one-way speed of light interesting.

            I’m also not sure what your point about orange is supposed to be. Are you suggesting that there is a particular spectra of light that we cannot test?

            My reason for being interested isn’t just that I think it’s “cool”. I think it’s fascinating that a fundamental underpinning of physics has such a gap in its experimental verifiability.

    • Richard
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      111 months ago

      Synchronise two high-precision clocks at different locations. Transmit the signal from A to a receiver at B and then send a signal back (or reflect the initial signal) from B to A. Both locations will record the synchronised time that their sensors picked up the transmission. Then, compare their clocks.