Speed of Light and Nocturnal Doubling

*I have not read all the way over this for corrections so if you have suggestions or grammar corrections please mention them. 

The idea in regards to nocturnal doubling is as follows: If everything in the universe were to double overnight would an individual be able to tell the difference? By everything I am talking about every atom, every electron, every molecule, every string in quantum foam – everything. The immediate results of this would be indistinguishable. Distances would double, however we would be unable to tell because our yard-sticks have doubled as well. Size has doubled but, compared with everything else – from atoms to trees – we are the same. There is no noticeable difference.

I, however, can see a major problem in this idea when incorporating what we know about light, the speed of light, and lights functionality. I propose that light's constant cannot be doubled simply because there is nothing that can be doubled. The speed of light cannot increase regardless of sizes of molecules or doubling of distances and I argue that because of this we can postulate and prove that changes in the universe have taken place.

Einstein, in his special theory of relativity, says that the speed of light sets the motion of light apart from the motion of material bodies – there is a material difference between light and physical objects. These two kinds of motion, therefore, are no longer comparable. If you observe an object in space traveling at 800 miles an hour, another observer somewhere else could observe the same object but see that it is moving only 300 miles an hour, or 7,000 miles per hour. Motion in regards to material objects vary. It can even be observed further – showing a difference in speed – by one traveling in relation to the object. This will alter how you measure the speed of the object.

“With light, however, the speed value is always the same, regardless of how differently its observers appear to be moving.”(1) In his special theory of relativity he stated two postulates: 1. the laws of physics are the same in all inertial reference frames and 2. the idea of light is independent of the source it had originated from. Therefore, we can derive from this that the speed of light constancy is its own absolute, therefore not having the ability to double in speed.(2)

If one is to believe that the speed of light cannot double in its speed we then can begin to view what it is that makes it possible to prove nocturnal doubling.

“Light waves are three-dimensional, have a frequency, a wavelength, and a speed (the speed of light). But, astonishingly, they do not require a medium, like water or air, to propagate in.”(3) This holds to Einstein's theories of lights independence from objects. Light, according to its wavelength and frequency can vary on a scale of type of light from Gamma to Microwave. The greater the wave length the greater the frequency in the light. Gamma-rays therefore have the longest wavelengths and the highest frequency. The waves are measured by their peaks and the distance between the peaks. This poses a major problem for the nocturnal doubling paradox.

Lets say that over night, (last night) everything doubled, therefore distances as well doubled. We can still observe that the star Sirius is 8.6 light years (LY) from Earth and the star Vega is 25.3 LY from Earth. Therefore, we can calculate the distances of the stars from one another using their 3D spherical coordinates (right ascension (α), declination (δ) and the distance coordinates of the stars). If we imagine a sphere where the center most point is Earth, we would then place a point R representing the stars distance (in LY) according to α and δ. Through using 3D triginomitry we can calculate that the distance between Sirius and Vega is 33.432 LY.(4) As measuring in light years does not directly involve the speed of light, (as a LY is a distance no speed), when everything in the universe doubles we would still be able to measure this.

However, there will be two major differences when measuring the time it takes for light to arrive from Sirius, (using the distance calculations). We would first find that it is taking light over 16 years to get from Sirius to Earth – still assuming that light speed is constance and cannot double – instead of the 8.6 it takes now. (We can do this because of the Doppler effect and lights redshift when moving towards us). We also, in measuring what type of light is coming from the star, would not be able to determine the wavelength or frequency as they have not doubled as we have. It is too small, the data does not match that which we already know to see when recording the gamma rays coming from the star. It was no longer be gamma rays. The peaks are not high enough, the distance between them are not far enough and the frequency between peaks is incalculable.

Along with light being a wavelength we also see that it is a particle – a photon – as well as having mass. And so, with this, some may argue that because photons have mass they can therefore double. However, we must first recognize the difference in stable or solid mass and relativistic mass.

Einstein's most commonly well known equation goes as follows: Energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light, squared, or, E = mc2. This means that because light travels at the speed of light c, which has energy E, it gives it relativistic mass m. This mass is dependent on light traveling at 186,000 miles per second. You cannot increase that or decrease it.

Nainan. K. Varghese, in his paper Speed of Light, he says the following in regards to a photon needing to remain constant, “[the] most fundamental property of a photon is its motion at constant linear velocity . . . In fact, a photon exists in stable state only because of its motions at constant velocities”(5) This consistency must remain the same, as is a required part of the nature of light. Nothing in light could be doubled because of the required consistencies in which light must have.


In conclusion I feel that through observations in light, as well as understanding the nature of light and the speed of light we can see that it would be impossible for us to not detect nocturnal doubling. Theories entertaining the idea that the speed of light would double, the wavelength would double as well as the mass of a photon, I feel do not address the issue of the nature of light and therefore fall short in providing a valid conclusion. We can see that, although theoretically everything could double in size and distance, therefore doubling the speed of objects, the speed of light by its own nature could not double.

Notes
1. Grandy, David A., The Speed of Light: Constancy and Cosmos, Indiana University Press, (2009), pp 25-26.
2. The speed of light is about 3 X 10(to the 10th power) centimeters a second, or 186,000 miles a second.
3. Sagan, Carl, Billions & Billions, Ballentine Books, New York, (1997), pp. 50.
4. Calculations derived from information at http://www.neoprogrammics.com/distance_between_two_stars/
5. Varghese, Nainan. K., The Speed of Light (According to “Hypothesis on MATTER"), The General Science Journal, (2008) pp.2.