msellers@mntgfx.mentor.com (Mike Sellers) (02/19/88)
In article <4809@ihlpg.ATT.COM>, tan@ihlpg.ATT.COM (Bill Tanenbaum) writes: > < A stick breaking under foot generates a (sonic) shock wave (chaotic behavior > < due to parts of the stick moving faster than the speed of sound ?) -- I > < don't think there is analogous light behaviour in the everyday world > < (aurora borealis?). > > There is analogous light behavior. It's called Cherenkov radiation. > It occurs when particles travel through a transparent medium faster > than the speed of light in that medium. It occurs in the everyday > world, but not so as you'd notice. > -- > Bill Tanenbaum - AT&T Bell Labs - Naperville IL ihnp4!ihlpg!tan Isn't one instance of this the bluish glow given off by water-bathed nuclear reactors, or more precisely, by the emitted particles moving faster than the speed of light in water? What is the mechanism behind this? Particles travelling faster than c in *any* medium bothers me just a bit ... I mean, what if (physical non sequitor approaching) we found a meduim wherein the speed of light was greater than it is in a vacuum? What consequences could this have? -- Mike Sellers ...!tektronix!sequent!mntgfx!msellers Mentor Graphics Corp., EPAD msellers@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM "Never confuse motion with action." -- Ben Franklin