I know that John is not going to like "speed of causation", given his
prior discussions on causation.
The quantity "c" is the speed at which massless exchange bosons (photons
& gravitons) propagate. It is also the natural speed limit for massive
particles. Are there other important characteristics of "c" that would
be useful in determining a better name for it?
I cannot think of a concise name that includes both important
characteristics.
Daniel Crowe
Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics
Ardmore Regional Center
dcrowe@sotc.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Forum for Physics Educators [mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu] On
Behalf Of RAUBER, JOEL
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 8:37 AM
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Subject: Re: [PHYS-L] Travel distance in a waveguide.
|
| Here's the rub: It is traditional for $c$ to be called
| "TheSpeedOfLight". This causes all sorts of confusion. It
| overstates the connection between $c$ and light. A generic
| light wave is neither necessary nor sufficient for defining
| $c$. IMHO we really need a better way of saying what $c$ is.s
|