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Speed of Light by Dave Horlick  Thu, 11 May 2006 05:16:05 GMT

Zeke slides into home base on a baseball field.Bridget: Sorry, Zeke… It looked like I got the third out before you slid home. | Zeke: Maybe it just looked that way. What if I scored first, but the light hadn't reached you yet?Meg: Oh come on! | Bridget: I guess that's possible. Meg, go stand on the pitcher's mound and we'll measure the speed of light.Bridget: Stop your watches when you see me switch on this flashlight.Bridget, standing at home plate, turns on the flashlight. Zeke and Meg both stop their watches with nearly-simutaneous clicks.Meg: I got 110 milliseconds. | Zeke: I got 90. Hey, that doesn't make any sense! I was further away… how could could the light have reached me sooner?Bridget: Those measurements include the time it took each of you to react to seeing the flashlight.Bridget: We need to repeat this experiment from far enough away that a few odd milliseconds won't matter. | Zeke: How far?Bridget: Jupiter! | Continued!

Jupiter texture map: James Hastings-Trew

Fence texture map: Martin Wagner

Adventure Font: Neale Davidson


Principal Investigators | Groundhog Day | Secret Ballot … | A Watt Saved | Speed of Light, Part 2 | Speed of Light | Butterscotch Sky | A Nice Ring To It … | RSS Feed

 


Copyright 2006, Dave Horlick