kevin52 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Question from an amateur Is the fact that the speed of light is independent of ots source just a fact of reality proven by observation or does relativity offer a reason for this fact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Relativity doesn't explain why. It's an earlier observation from classical electromagnetism that was applied to mechanical motion, so it was taken as a postulate. For EM waves to satisfy the wave equation, they must have an invariant speed. Since radios, etc. work even when there is relative motion, the idea has a pretty solid basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnStu Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 Question from an amateur Is the fact that the speed of light is independent of ots source just a fact of reality proven by observation or does relativity offer a reason for this fact. Rephrasing your question into: Is light emitted from a star travelling at half of c faster on one side and slower on the other? Dont think so. I remember reading an experiment to test this some years ago, the experiment showed no changes in light speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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