• Question: how does the speed of light effect all living things on the earth

    Asked by 11mstock to Callum, Gina, Katie, Michelle, Sam on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Sam Godfrey

      Sam Godfrey answered on 16 Nov 2012:


      That is an interesting question. I imagine that being like an exam question for physicists. In all honesty I don’t know. I do know that the speed of light is fundamentally linked to the way our universe works, and that speed of light is linked to energy. So if you were to change the speed of light somehow, then I imagine this would change the amount of energy in the universe which would have an effect on all living things. Whether there would even be living things or not, I really couldn’t say. But I would love to know as well. Great question and sorry I can’t help.

    • Photo: Katie Howe

      Katie Howe answered on 16 Nov 2012:


      The speed of light means that it takes 8 minutes for the light from the sun to reach the earth. So that means that if the sun suddenly dissapeared it would take us 8 minutes to even notice!

      I’m not sure if i really answered your question as I am not really very good at physics and thinking about the speed of light makes my mind boggle! If you want a fun experiment to try at home where you can measure the speed of light using chocolate then take a look at this: (you could even eat the chocolate after = bonus!)

      http://www.planet-science.com/categories/over-11s/physics-is-fun!/2012/01/measure-the-speed-of-light-using-chocolate.aspx

    • Photo: Michelle Linterman

      Michelle Linterman answered on 16 Nov 2012:


      We need to know exactly what the speed of light to make various things work to help our lives. For example, satnav in a car uses our knowledge of the speed of light to figure out where your car is on the Earth using signals beamed from satellites in space.

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