Why won't this work...or will it?

Method 2 IS optical wavelenths Michael. For a very long time the metre WAS defined by optical wavelenths. Time measurements present the problem of the variation in velocity of the media, they only work without secondary effects in a vacuum. However there is no need for national standards accuracy on a home machine tool. For a home machine glass scale DRO's work very well, are not that expensive and cope with life quite well.

A cheap way of getting distance readings is to use a modified digital caliper or the ready made digital scales. Or you could do what people did BIC ( before integrated circuits) and use a dial gauge or two.

Billy.

Billy,

Fascinating choice to use the time it takes light to cover a known distance. I'm surprised physicists would choose a standard they could never measure with absolute accuracy (due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle), although I would concede it will have higher resolution than using optical methods.

Neil

Neil,

We're on the same wavelength ... [boom-boom]

The really interesting/mind-boggling bit being:

As a matter of dogma "the Speed of Light in vaccuo" is one of the Universal Constants

Ref. Diagram showing the SI Constants.

But ... Speed = Distance/Time ... and we now define the metre in terms of time.

So ... our Universal Constant has a circular definition !!!

and "Time" [something which is not really comprehensible, and has had many defiinitions] seems to be our ultimate reference.

MichaelG.

I would welcome your thoughts on this ... but it's probably unfair to take the thread too far off-topic. Please eMail if you want to discuss.

There is something very flawed about the speed of light.

When I had my old BSA plunger complete with 6v Lucas Magdyno it was possible to run over the main beam at about 55 mph at night.

So does Lucas have exemption on the speed of light, or dark in their case ?

Edited By John Stevenson on 14/08/2013 00:24:35

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John,

Thanks for that de-lightful image ... I shall treasure it.

MichaelG.

P.S. I suspect that Lucas (together with Miller and Wipac) will eventually be recognised as "Green" innovators ... When someone hooks-up some decent LEDs to a 60W Dynamo.

Many years ago in a Bike magazine article a guy built a special that he called Red Shift, if only bikes were that fast.

Mike

Edited By Michael Poole on 14/08/2013 18:11:02