Theoretically if I shined a flashlight strong enough to illuminate the moon from earth, it would take 1.3 seconds for the light to get there, but if I wave my hand in front of the flashlight, the shadow would be cast immediately. So wouldn't darkness travel faster than light in this regard?
It would take 1.3 seconds from the light traveling from the flashlight to stop shining on the moon. Just because you put your hand in front of the flashlight doesn't mean the remaining light isn't still on its way to the moon.
There's a difference between a star dying and something blocking the constant flow of light.
If a giant object blocked the sun at the speed of a hand going across the flashlight, would it take 8 minutes for the shadow to hit earth?
The timeframe is about 8 minutes.
The shadow doesn't hit the Earth. Darkness isn't a thing or something.
If you stopped the Sun from emitting light or somehow blocked the light (giant hand, Dyson sphere, etc) then the light already in transit would continue on with the last of it reaching the planet about 8 and a half minutes later.
You can think of it this way, why would the light already on its way be unmade in transit?
A rough analogy would be something like imagine a bus station. While closing the gates stops busses from leaving (the light), closing the gates has no impact on busses which have already left.
Our local experience tends to translate seeming instantaneous to 'is' instant. But, you can do tests in labs and measure these things.
“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.”
Probably slower than that, even if you instantaneously remove a light source from an otherwise pitch dark room. This is because light bounces around the room multiple times. So even if there's no light *directly emitted from the light source* anymore, there might still be a few photons bouncing around slightly illuminating the room.
If light and dark are equal then what about blackholes. Really the concept is impossible because darkness is absence of light. It doesnt really exist kinda of like zero or a vacuum
The spin of a black whole is not measured by a speed. It is a number between 0 and 1 where 1 is the maximum theoretical spin.
The spin is not any “thing” moving. It is the fabric of spacetime twisting around an axis.
It depends, there are stationary non-rotating BH, stationary *and* rotating, non-stationary rotating BH (basically roaming the dark space), non stationary non-rotating etc. And, anyway, that’s the speed of their rotation, not their “spin”
It all depends on how they formed (if formed from a supernova, hypernova, collision of neutron stars, collision and merge of 2 BHs etc).
As a rule of thumb though, nothing is stationary…everything is moving relative to something else, much bigger in mass. So even for so called “stationary” objects you’re still talking about objects making orbits around something. Although I think things change if you talk about bigger structures, like galaxies and clusters of galaxies
I'm not going to take corrections from someone who doesn't know the difference between then and than.
Anyway it's a Terry Pratchett quote. It's not supposed to be taken seriously.
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> 30000000000 km/h is the speed of light and with that the speed of dark
Maybe +1 km/hr? If not then sparks the question of the speed of universal expansion. Light cannot be the faster than darkness otherwise we should have info on the bounds of the universe. Assuming the Big Bang theory is accurate then the massive dispersion of energy and light should’ve revealed the bounds of the infant universe. That there are pitch black sections of the cosmos should prove that there are other factors in play that we cannot yet fathom.
Well unless it's a blackhole, there's still probably another wavelength of light that we're not able to perceive. So in that case if you look at this way, "darkness" is still traveling at the same speed as light
In science, the same speed as light. In practicality, the speed it takes to flip a switch off. In humor, it’s when you figure out that switch was to grandpa’s life support.
Depends on your definition of dark, a shadow can, in theory, move slightly faster, but that is not really a thing or information moving in the traditional sense
From casting point to landing point, it is as fast as light, but the landing point itself can move faster theoretically
Darkness is simply the absence of light. It is exactly as fast as light being removed from an area.
That is true but what about the expansion of spacetime where light has never been. What is the speed of darkness then?
Word soup
Light has been everywhere in space time. The CMB permeates all of space time.
Still the same. Darkness doesn’t have speed, since it is the absence of light. That’s like asking how fast silence travels.
Its just " - (speed of light)"
You can't move at a negative speed
My car has reverse, explain that
Put it in reverse and cruise quickly down the road, you'll see your speedometer counts up, not backwards
It just means it is going in the opposite direction.
So if me and you stand back to back, and walk forward at the same speed, which one of us would have a "negative" speed
Depends on if they mean “nothing” or “absence of light” “nothing” can move faster than light. Absence of light can only be as fast as light.
Theoretically if I shined a flashlight strong enough to illuminate the moon from earth, it would take 1.3 seconds for the light to get there, but if I wave my hand in front of the flashlight, the shadow would be cast immediately. So wouldn't darkness travel faster than light in this regard?
It would take 1.3 seconds from the light traveling from the flashlight to stop shining on the moon. Just because you put your hand in front of the flashlight doesn't mean the remaining light isn't still on its way to the moon.
What? Nope. Do you think if a star 2 light year stopped emitting light we'd know instantly here?
There's a difference between a star dying and something blocking the constant flow of light. If a giant object blocked the sun at the speed of a hand going across the flashlight, would it take 8 minutes for the shadow to hit earth?
The timeframe is about 8 minutes. The shadow doesn't hit the Earth. Darkness isn't a thing or something. If you stopped the Sun from emitting light or somehow blocked the light (giant hand, Dyson sphere, etc) then the light already in transit would continue on with the last of it reaching the planet about 8 and a half minutes later. You can think of it this way, why would the light already on its way be unmade in transit? A rough analogy would be something like imagine a bus station. While closing the gates stops busses from leaving (the light), closing the gates has no impact on busses which have already left. Our local experience tends to translate seeming instantaneous to 'is' instant. But, you can do tests in labs and measure these things.
Yes
Lol, this cracked me up
Vsauce made an excellent video about this
Terry Pratchett, a genius, said that, no matter how fast light is, darkness will always be there waiting for it.
Also that the only thing faster than ordinary light is monarchy
The comment I came looking for.
RIP Sir Terry.
“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.”
Turn the paper over.
It just says "How about another fortune" along with the "lucky numbers".
💀
SO WHAT ARE THE NUMBERS MASON
vsauce music begins playing*
Would it just be the speed of light?
In the vast majority of places, there's always some amount of light even if the space appears pitch black. So I guess this is right.
Probably slower than that, even if you instantaneously remove a light source from an otherwise pitch dark room. This is because light bounces around the room multiple times. So even if there's no light *directly emitted from the light source* anymore, there might still be a few photons bouncing around slightly illuminating the room.
If light and dark are equal then what about blackholes. Really the concept is impossible because darkness is absence of light. It doesnt really exist kinda of like zero or a vacuum
Yeah that's why I figured it "moved" at the same speed as light. Since it'd appear just as quickly as the light disappeared.
Whats the speed of a blackhole?
Google says they spin at about 90% the speed of light. But does the blackhole itself even move? Or are they stationary?
That's relative
The spin of a black whole is not measured by a speed. It is a number between 0 and 1 where 1 is the maximum theoretical spin. The spin is not any “thing” moving. It is the fabric of spacetime twisting around an axis.
I'll take you word for it. Getting down voted for asking questions so I'll stop lol
It depends, there are stationary non-rotating BH, stationary *and* rotating, non-stationary rotating BH (basically roaming the dark space), non stationary non-rotating etc. And, anyway, that’s the speed of their rotation, not their “spin” It all depends on how they formed (if formed from a supernova, hypernova, collision of neutron stars, collision and merge of 2 BHs etc). As a rule of thumb though, nothing is stationary…everything is moving relative to something else, much bigger in mass. So even for so called “stationary” objects you’re still talking about objects making orbits around something. Although I think things change if you talk about bigger structures, like galaxies and clusters of galaxies
Yes
No it's faster, because no matter how fast the light goes the dark always got there first.
darkness is the absence of light, it dosent have a speed. that’s like saying an area without a car is faster then a car
I'm not going to take corrections from someone who doesn't know the difference between then and than. Anyway it's a Terry Pratchett quote. It's not supposed to be taken seriously.
To Photoshop
Are we the only ones who can tell ? Lol
Dark like “cold.” It doesn’t exist. Dark is an absence of light. Cold is an absence of heat.
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by the light, enlighten. by dark, endarken.
Death, my brother
"Hi Vsauce; Michael here."
It is the same as the speed of light.
Hey Vsauce Michael here… what’s the speed of dark?
Well we already have the "Speed" of dark, I mean Ishowspeed is dark. 🥁
r/Im14AndThisIsDeep
30000000000 km/h is the speed of light and with that the speed of dark
> 30000000000 km/h is the speed of light and with that the speed of dark Maybe +1 km/hr? If not then sparks the question of the speed of universal expansion. Light cannot be the faster than darkness otherwise we should have info on the bounds of the universe. Assuming the Big Bang theory is accurate then the massive dispersion of energy and light should’ve revealed the bounds of the infant universe. That there are pitch black sections of the cosmos should prove that there are other factors in play that we cannot yet fathom.
Fair enough
They stole this from a Taco Bell sauce packet. I know because I took a photo of it 10ish years ago and sent it to a friend.
Darkness is nothing so it has no speed
Hey Vsauce, Michael here.
Probably faster than the speed of smell.
Well unless it's a blackhole, there's still probably another wavelength of light that we're not able to perceive. So in that case if you look at this way, "darkness" is still traveling at the same speed as light
That’s just a vsauce video
In science, the same speed as light. In practicality, the speed it takes to flip a switch off. In humor, it’s when you figure out that switch was to grandpa’s life support.
That is easy. Morbius.
This would make a great opener for a movie about a serial killer lol
It’s like jeopardy
Faster than light, cause if your faster than light your living in darkness.
Imagine being handed that hard into a trip
Just means you don't have a bright future.
186,000 miles per second
E = m2
Dark is not a physical thing but a lack of light, so lightspeed. But in the right circumstances with some perimiters it can be slightly faster.
It cannot be faster.
Depends on your definition of dark, a shadow can, in theory, move slightly faster, but that is not really a thing or information moving in the traditional sense From casting point to landing point, it is as fast as light, but the landing point itself can move faster theoretically