LSCI 106: ONLINE RESEARCH 1: INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE RESEARCH
Student Project
RESEARCH QUESTION:
Is the speed of light slowing down over time?
The punch-line to the familiar joke says the only things you can count on are death and taxes. In the scientific world of physics one key fundamental that could be counted on is the speed of light remaining constant at a speed of 186,000 miles a second, over time. Much of physics is based on this assumption. But now “the times, they are a-changin', and so are the fundamental constants of physics, an international group of physicists reports. After analyzing light from distant quasars, the team has concluded that the fine-structure constant, which is related to the speed of light, has shifted over time” (Seife 1410).
Why is this such a big deal? Einstein’s Theory of Relativity would be wrong. The universe would not be as old as previously thought. While scientists cannot find over 90% of the matter needed to make the Big Bang a feasible theory, faster light speeds would explain it while rendering it unworkable. It would agree and substantiate the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Much of astronomical theory would need to be rethought. One thing is for certain…there will be much debate and research regarding the constancy of the speed of light.
GENERAL SEARCH
WORKSHEET
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CONCEPT # |
Search Terms |
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1 |
“speed of light” |
“light speed” |
“light particle” |
“particle of light” |
“velocity of light” |
|
2 |
decreas* |
slow* |
decelerat* |
declin* |
reduc* |
|
|
relativity |
histor* |
rate |
time |
|
Berman, Bob. “Strange Universe.”
Astronomy August
2001: 78. InfoTrac OneFile. GaleGroup. 3 May 2004.
<http://web5.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/437/497/49716311w5/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A76413761&dyn=22!xrn_25_0_A76413761?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.
Brown, Harvey
R., and Adolfo Maia Jr. “Light-Speed
Constancy Versus Light-Speed Invariance in the
Derivation of Relativistic Kinematics.” The
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science September 1993: 381. InfoTrac
OneFile. GaleGroup. 3 May 2004.
<http://web5.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/437/497/49716311w5/purl=rc1_ITOF_0_A14940327&dyn=11!xrn_1_0_A14940327?sw_aep=plan_skyline>.
Guterl,
Fred. “Crazy Speed Demon : An Idiosyncratic
Hawkes,
Nigel. “Is Einstein About to Be Dethroned?”
The Times
Magueijo,
João. Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation.
Odenwald,
Sten. “Is It
True that the Speed of Light is Slowing Down?”
Gravity Probe B: Testing
Einstein’s Universe. 1997.
This is a fantastic website. I
have been privileged to know several people working on this project. The Gravity
Probe B project has been in process for over 25 years and finally, as of
last week, is now orbiting the Earth ready to test Einstein’s theory of
relativity.
Schewe, Phillip F., and Ben Stein. “Physics News Update #432.”
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of
Physics News
This website is sponsored by the American Instituted of Physics. It publishes research papers and abstracts
and disseminates them to the public, scholars and journalists. It is an educational site as well as an
organization. It has links to other
journals, historical sites about physics and links to researchers as well. The author of this paper gives the an email link directly to the researcher performing this
study: Bradley Schaefer of
Schilling, Govert. “Relativity Passes a Tough Cosmic Test”. Science
Setterfield,
Barry. “On the Constancy of the Speed of Light”. 28 August 2002. 3 May 2004.
<http://www.setterfield.org/constc/constc.shtml>.
The first glance of this web page indicates that it is from an
individual’s personal web site. It is
the author’s personal site and ends with an .org extension. He (Barry Setterfield) co-authored a
paper (with Trevor Norman) while at the Stanford Research Institute that was
published by Flinders University (Australia).
He was tagged as a creationist scientist and the paper was
withdrawn. He has faced criticism from
both the creationist and evolutionary spectrum of scientists. Four physics
journals refused to publish his paper due to no institutional affiliation. Although he is not published recently, his
findings agree with later independent physics research, if not his conclusions. This info was on his site (http://www.setterfield.org/bio.html).
His page has info and conclusions. While
some agree with his info, others don’t agree with his conclusions. He has links to other sites and articles that
I have found in the LII site and also scientific journals and government web
sites. Some of these links are also a
fellow scientist personal web page. The
page was last updated 08/2002 so it is fairly current. He is educated on this subject yet does not
hold a PhD. He has nothing for sale on
the site and he freely divulges sites, authors, and critiques of his research
which are complementary and also disparaging.
These were easy to verify and find with a Google search.
In conclusion, I would use his info and links, but not base all my research on
his findings alone. His philosophy is from a creation standpoint and it was
good to see that he listed critical co-philosophical reviews of his work. It
was nice to see that he was upfront with disagreeing viewpoints. His links were worthwhile to search and
peruse.
Seife,
Charles. “COSMOLOGY: Changing Constants Cause Controversy.” Science
“Relativity Rethink.” Chemistry and Industry
Wieland, Carl. “Speed of Light Slowing Down After All?” 9 August 2002. Answers in Genisis. 3 May 2004. <http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/0809_cdk_davies.asp>.
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