Scientists have found a way to make light waves travel infinitely fast

http://qz.com/532580/scientists-have-found-a-way-to-make-light-waves-travel-infinitely-fast/

by fffrad • 11 years ago

11 1 11 years ago

todd8• 11 years ago

I don't understand the implications of this research. Can anyone enlighten me? Clearly, they aren't saying that light travels faster than the previously determined speed of light in a vacuum. Further, they can't mean that information is being transmitted faster than light.

I think they mean something like this crude thought experiment of mine: I shine a laser pointer (a strong one) at a point on the moon and flick my wrist to point it at a distant point, say 4000 miles away, on the moon. The laser dot on the surface of the moon will travel faster than the speed of light if I am rotating the laser pointer fast enough, which because of the distance of the moon isn't difficult at all. This isn't faster than light travel; it's still photons traveling at the speed of light, but they are just arriving at the moon's surface at very slightly different times.

Scientists have found a way to make light waves travel infinitely fast

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