Why is the speed of light what it is as opposed to something else?

Question

Forgive me if I am coming across stupid, I know how people measure the speed of light. What I am getting at is the fact that it is always that speed. Why is it that it is not for example 5 times a fast?

Answer 1

If it were five times as fast, wouldn't you ask why it isn't 1/5 that speed? The trick here is that it is all relative.

If the speed of light was five times faster, then the way that everything works would be different (at least in being faster). It's actually impossible to say scientifically what would happen with our current knowledge, merely because it is something we cannot test.

However, it seems possible that if light went 5 times as fast, then everything would work five times as fast. That would mean that the universe would operate at five times the speed that it currently does. Thus, our cells and minds would be working at five times the speed that they currently are. However, we wouldn't be faster than anything else. A second would be five times as fast too. Thus in the end, if light were five times as fast, it might not change anything at all.

Now, beyond that:

Light speed is "so fast" because it defines the small, fast, minute functions which are too chaotic for us to build our cells out of. We don't know of any "energy-based lifeforms", and we probably never will. It takes the stability and consistency of slow-moving, stable atoms and molecules to build our bodies, and they will inherently move at much slower speeds than the speed of the light particles that define them.

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So, if your question is: "Why is light not at a different speed than it is?"

My answer would be: "Maybe it is, but even if it was, is, or will be, we might not even notice. Maybe with a telescope that peers deep into space, we will observe that the speed of light actually varies. If there were something faster though, it probably would give up its speed to slower particles as soon as it encountered them; thereby, it would change the local speed of light by a tiny fraction of its speed and slow down to that speed."

If your question is: "Why is it so fast relative to us?"

Then: "Because that's how the laws of the universe work to allow stable interactions, and that's a much bigger discussion than anyone can fit into a post this size."

Answer 2

I believe the speed of light that you are referring to is what it is in a vacuum. Light is still effected by outer factors (i.e. gravity) however, for the purpose of physics and equations we usually use it's speed in a vacuum.

I hope that answers your question. =)

Answer 3

What's important is that light has a constant speed relative to everyone, the numerical value we assign to it is arbitrary and depends on what units we choose to measure length and time.

300000km/s = 186000mi/hr = 982000000ft/s = etc etc

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