A question on the speed of light and time.

[damo]

Hi,

I was just wondering if someone would be kind enough to give me some suggestions on my reasoning, hope the following is not too vague or crazy:

 

If Einstein postulated that the maximum velocity in which any mass can reach

in the universe is that of the speed of light ©, then should'nt there exist

a fundamental (smallest) unit of time within the universe, in which;

 

time is proportinal to 1/c?

or

time = 1/c?

 

So, would'nt this be the smallest basic (fundamental) unit of universal time?

 

Regards,

Damo

[Tormod]

Physicists do indeed believe there is a minimum unit of time.

 

It is called "planck time", and is defined as the time it would take a photon travelling at the speed of light to across a distance equal to the Planck length (the smallest possible distance in the Universe, roughly equal to 1.6 x 10-35 m or about 10-20 times the size of a proton).

(This was taken from this page: What is planck time and length

 

Another link:

Planck time

 

And here's a good one, from Nature Online:

Time gives rays a break

[michaelchang]

Yup, tormod is right. There are other fundamental units such as the Planck length.

 

Tormod, do you have a site which shows how Planck dervied these units?

[Tormod]

There is some interesting stuff on Max Planck at the Nobel institute's website,

 

- Max Planck bio

 

Make sure you check out the links in the right column of that page, it has more information.

 

I'm not a physicist, but as far as I understand things, Max Planck was the first to understand that energy could only be emitted in discrete quanta, something which was against all current theories when he announced this in 1900. This was later termed the Planck length.

 

- Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (more detailed biography)

 

As for the other units, the Planck time and the Planck mass, have been named after Max Planck but I believe this is only because they, like the Plack length, describe the minimum possible constants. John Barrow describes these in the September 7, 2002, issue of New Scientists in this way:

 

Planck length: (Gh/c^3)^1/2 =4.1 x 10^-35 metres

Planck time: (Gh/c^5)^1/2 = 1.3 x 10^-43 seconds

Planck mass: (ch/G)^1/2= 5.6 x 10^-8 kilograms

 

But as to how Max Planck derived the minimum radiation unit, maybe someone else can point us in the right direction?

[paultrr]

Try: http://nobelprize.org/physics/laureates/1918/planck-lecture.html to get the flow somewhat of where he developed his idea from.