A New Astronomical Quranic Method for The Determination Of The Greatest Speed C
DETERMINATION OF THE LIGHT SPEED
Introduction:
The velocity of light C in vacuum belongs to a small group of the fundamental constants; however, it occupies an outstanding position even within this group. First of all, it is encountered in very different branches of physics. It will come as no exaggeration if one says the story of the determination of the velocity of light is a concise history of physics. And this story has not come to an end yet.
From the ancient Greeks down to the Middle ages, the speed of light was believed to be infinite. Aristotle believed that light propagates instantly!. In the eleventh century, an Arabic scientist Alhassan suggests that light travels at a finite speed. Galileo (1600) tried this speed but he Eailed saying that light is extraordinarily rapid(l). Roemer (1676) was the first measuring C using the eclipses of the Jovian satellite Io. He obtained an inaccurate value of C (215000 km/s) because the diameter of the earth's orbit was not known exactly.
Starting from 17th century, experiments show the progress of methods and techniques in the determination of the speed C.
Froome's value was considered to be the most accurate for a long period until 1983 when the modulated laser radiation interferometers were applied for the determination of C with great precision.
According to the US National Bureau of Standards(3): C = 299792.4574 + 0.0011 km/
and according to the British National Physical Laboratory C = 299792.4590 + 0.0008 km/s
A basically new definition of the metre wasaccepted in October 1983 at the 17th General Conference on Measures and Weights(3):
"The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of
1/299792458 of a second".
The Fixation of the value of C after the formation of the new definition of the meter does not mean yet the end of the story of this fundamental constant C. There are numerous other questions dealing with the realtion between this multifarious, enigmatic constant C and the theory of Relativity.
Recalling the second postulate of the special theory of relativity declared by Albert Einstein (1905):
"The velocity C of light in vacuum is the same in all inertial frames of reference in all directions and depend neither on the velocity of the source nor on the velocity of the observer".
Pauli(4) (1958) said that the data on binarystars allowed us to consider this postulate of the constancy of the velocity of light to be almost certainly correct.
According to Einstein's general theory of relativity (1917), the law of the constancy of the velocity C of light in vacuum can not claim any unlimited validity because the curvature of rays of light can only take place when the velocity of propagation of light varies with position!. Einstein(4) himself solved this contradiction between special and general relativity declaring in his paper written (1917):
"The results of the special relativity hold only so long as we are able to disregard the influence of gravitational fields on the phenomena".
This validity condition of the second postulate of special relativity is considered in the present work because the constancy of the velocity C needs absolute space (vacuum). To attain vacuum in the Einstein's sense of this word. it is not: sufficient just to eleminate from a volume of space every atom, molecule and particle, it is necessary also to get rid of the gravitational field. Therefore we have screened out the effect of the solar gravitational field on the geocentric orbital motion of the moon, which is considered here, according to the applied Quranic equation; as a standard measure reference for evaluating the greatest cosmic speed described in the Holy Quranic verses.