Benjaphar

Benjaphar t1_j27cn2k wrote

Yes, Veritasium covered those issues in a really interesting video earlier this year. My question wasn't really about the logistics of the measurement for the experiment, but rather if you could hypothetically get the measurements, could you calculate your own speed relative to light emanating from your position.

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Benjaphar t1_j26zlcr wrote

> There also is no “absolute” speed: everything is relative to something else, whether it’s the earth or the sun or the CMB or whatever

Couldn't we say that the speed of light is the absolute standard?

If it were possible to measure it accurately somehow, you could send photons away from you in opposite directions and determine your true motion through space based on how quickly the photons moved away from you. Let's say you got lucky and happened to pick the direction of your true motion as one of your two directions. The photons moving the same direction you are moving would be blue-shifted as they are receding from you at c - (your true speed) and the ones going the opposite direction would be red-shifted at c + (your true speed).

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