Speed of light

From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science

The speed of light in vacuum is held to be constant at 299,792,458 m/s (186,282.397 miles per second, approximately 1.7e11 Sabbath Day's Journeys per Creation Period). Designated by the symbol "c", it is a fundamental quantity of the universe. According to Special Relativity it is the universe's speed limit and it is part of the relation between mass and energy. ( E = mc² )

It has been proposed that the speed of light has decayed since the Creation. While this theory opened the door to scientific solutions to the distant star light problem; it is not generally accepted by creation scientists.

History

Many scientists in the past have speculated about possible changes in the values of one or more physical constants and its implications. They were not always met with enthusiasms from the scientific community because the implications of any variation in any constant are enormous: it would introduces changes at astronomical level in the very fiber of the Universe. Yet the idea never totally died out and was never totally suppressed.

Glenn Morton was one of the first persons to put forth a concrete and testable model. He started not from changing fundamental constants, but from another angle. Soon Barry Setterfield came forward with his proposal of variation in the velocity of light. His initial proposal went through several revisions and modifications and creationist publications quoted him widely. Some secular publications also used the information, but the general response was to resist his proposals.

Johnson C. Philip from India put forth the same idea in a broader way in 1982 and did some work with the Physics department of Jiwaji University in India. However, he had to abandon the work in 1984 due to the resistance of some non creationist professors.

The proposal remains promising, and much work can be done. The resistance remains, especially from non creationists. However, the topic might find a revival, now that the secular world has started toying with the idea of changing fundamental constants.

The speed of light can has been used to calculate the distance of supernova 1987A from earth with great accuracy; based on observing the time taken for its light to illuminate the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is the standard method for calculating the distance to near by galaxies.