What Limits the Speed of Light in a Vacuum?

The speed of light in a vacuum is a basic property of the universe. It was derived theoretically by Maxwell. Here is a quote from wikipedia:

The greatest work of Maxwell’s life was devoted to electricity. Maxwell’s most important contribution was the extension and mathematical formulation of earlier work on electricity and magnetism by Michael Faraday, André-Marie Ampère, and others into a linked set of differential equations (originally, 20 equations in 20 variables, later re-expressed in quaternion and vector-based notations). These equations, which are now collectively known as Maxwell’s equations (or occasionally, “Maxwell’s Wonderful Equations”), were first presented to the Royal Society in 1864, and together describe the behaviour of both the electric and magnetic fields, as well as their interactions with matter.

Furthermore, Maxwell showed that the equations predict waves of oscillating electric and magnetic fields that travel through empty space at a speed that could be predicted from simple electrical experiments—using the data available at the time, Maxwell obtained a velocity of 310,740,000 m/s. Maxwell (1865) wrote:

This velocity is so nearly that of light, that it seems we have strong reason to conclude that light itself (including radiant heat, and other radiations if any) is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws.

3 COMMENTS

Dr. J. February 22, 2013 At 10:37 pm

Good question, but I do not believe that science will be able to answer that. Think about the following; why is it 186,282.397 and not 123?

A more interesting question could be: is the speed of light constant or does it change with time?
Ronin February 22, 2013 At 9:55 pm

I don’t think we can answer this question. it’s like asking why the gravitational constant of the universe is what it is. If it were different, the universe would be radically different. perhaps there is some universe somewhere with a different speed of light, perhaps not. Science has trouble answering “Why”
campbelp2002 February 22, 2013 At 9:45 pm

The speed of light in a vacuum is a basic property of the universe. It was derived theoretically by Maxwell. Here is a quote from wikipedia:

The greatest work of Maxwell’s life was devoted to electricity. Maxwell’s most important contribution was the extension and mathematical formulation of earlier work on electricity and magnetism by Michael Faraday, André-Marie Ampère, and others into a linked set of differential equations (originally, 20 equations in 20 variables, later re-expressed in quaternion and vector-based notations). These equations, which are now collectively known as Maxwell’s equations (or occasionally, “Maxwell’s Wonderful Equations”), were first presented to the Royal Society in 1864, and together describe the behaviour of both the electric and magnetic fields, as well as their interactions with matter.

Furthermore, Maxwell showed that the equations predict waves of oscillating electric and magnetic fields that travel through empty space at a speed that could be predicted from simple electrical experiments—using the data available at the time, Maxwell obtained a velocity of 310,740,000 m/s. Maxwell (1865) wrote:

This velocity is so nearly that of light, that it seems we have strong reason to conclude that light itself (including radiant heat, and other radiations if any) is an electromagnetic disturbance in the form of waves propagated through the electromagnetic field according to electromagnetic laws.

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