🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Nov7.122454.13037@prim> dave@prim.demon.co.uk (Dave Griffiths) writes:

>Is it possible to make a clock whose speed of running is independent of the
>speed of light? I mean, if the speed of light was doubled, would all our clocks
>run twice as fast so we wouldn't actually notice? (In the equation E = mcc,
>which would be conserved, energy or mass?).


	Yes, it is possible.  There are four forces available: gravity,
electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear.  One can make a clock
that depends only on gravity with orbital times (year, month),
or one that depends only on strong nuclear force (radioactive decay
running a counter).  At first glance, a pendulum clock would 
seem appropriate (but beware: the length of the pendulum is
crucial, and this depends on electronic behavior at the microscopic
level).  The diurnal rotation is also unacceptable, because 
any change in the density of matter would alter the radius of
gyration and (in the absence of any torque) have a corresponding
effect on the rotation period.

	If someone altered the speed of light with a whizzy box
studded with lights and dials, we'd all know about it soon enough.

	John Whitmore