Effects of a massive change in c

[XaLEv]

Suppose tomorrow some random Sufficiently Advanced Being decided to increase the speed of light in the vicinity of Earth by, say, four orders of magnitude. What would happen at various scales; planetwide, human level, molecular and atomic, etc.? What effects would it have on the rest of the system, assuming the change doesn't extend more than one thousand kilometers from the planet's surface?

[Surlethe]

Since IIRC c is derivable from Maxwells equations, increasing c involves fucking up electromagnetism; I don't know what the effects would be, but I imagine it doesn't look good for our modernized electricity-reliant civilization.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Since IIRC c is derivable from Maxwells equations, increasing c involves fucking up electromagnetism; I don't know what the effects would be, but I imagine it doesn't look good for our modernized electricity-reliant civilization.

It's even worse; the molecular and (to a degree) atomic structure of matter are determined by electromagnetic forces. I don't know what would happen, but I suspect everything would either explode or melt.

[Kuroneko]

The speed of light is entwined with so many other things in physics that this question cannot have a single answer. The most basic follow-up question would be: since there is a relation between mass and energy through the speed of light, what happens to the mass? Gravity is proportional to c², or equivalently, the rest energy of the Earth is increased by around 1e50J as per E=mc² (the former would have c affecting the gravitational constant, while the latter the mass value of the Earth]), the delivery of which upon would simply make it collapse into a black hole that will proceed to immediately swallow the solar system. On the other hand, if the rest energy stays the same (thus decreasing the corresponding value in kg), then the fine structure constant would be smaller by four orders of magnitude, causing a decrease of eight orders of magnitude in the electron binding energies of atoms, i.e., they will form plasmas at about a hundred-millionth of the absolute temperature as compared to how they behaved prior to the operation. The Earth would become a giant cloud of cold plasma that has a strong possibility of turning into a lilliput star, since the Coulomb barrier will be much smaller.

[Darth Wong]

The most salient change for any sci-fi discussion is that it would become impossible for human beings to exist. Therefore, this cannot have happened in any sci-fi universe.

The most salient change for any creationism discussion is the fact that none of the stellar processes which are necessary to create iron and heavier elements would have worked. Ergo, we would still need many billions of years between the time of this imagined super-c state and the present in order to have all of the elements that we have, because at least one generation of stars must have lived and died during that intervening period.

[The Nomad]

I would suggest reading this short story set in the Xeeleeverse : http://www.cix.co.uk/~sjbradshaw/baxter ... ion%20Line.

[The Nomad]

I would suggest reading this short story set in the Xeeleeverse : http://www.cix.co.uk/~sjbradshaw/baxter ... ion%20Line.

On the Orion Line

Bad night's sleep.

[Guy N. Cognito]

Oh come on, we would just see things faster. Woudln't we? But on a more serious note, it would really screw up things. The latest Scientific America has an article on the inconstant constants, and what wouuld happen if any of the constants changed too much. According to what you are suggesting, they believe that atomic densities would fall, things would melt at lower temperatures and the number of stable elements in the periodic table would increase. All in all, the 'constants' we've based everything on and our lives depend on would fail us. And by the order of magnitude you are suggesting, we would all die. I think our biological bodies just wouldn't handle it.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Oh come on, we would just see things faster. Woudln't we? But on a more serious note, it would really screw up things. The latest Scientific America has an article on the inconstant constants, and what wouuld happen if any of the constants changed too much. According to what you are suggesting, they believe that atomic densities would fall, things would melt at lower temperatures and the number of stable elements in the periodic table would increase. All in all, the 'constants' we've based everything on and our lives depend on would fail us. And by the order of magnitude you are suggesting, we would all die. I think our biological bodies just wouldn't handle it.

Right. But, as was pointed out, the rest energy of the Earth would increase by 100,000,000 times (since E = mc^2 and 10,000^2 is 100,000,000.) And since the permittivity and permeability of free space would plummet by a factor of 100,000,000, electromagnetic fields would increase in strength by 100,000,000, preventing the planet from blowing itself apart from the increase in rest energy.

In short, I agree with Kuroneko on this. The Earth would promptly collapse into a black hole. Mind you, my analysis is probably a bit on rough and naive side.

[Guy N. Cognito]

If you get a chance pick up the June 2005 issues of Scientific America, it will explain it better then I ever could. Can anyone with a degree explain this please?I have a rough grasp of the idea but no where near thorough enough understanding.