We Want To Know Which Is Faster: Electricity Or Light?

Electricity and light are both forms of ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION (ER) and all ER travels at the same speed of 300,000. km/second

How many miles per second is 300000 km/s Radio waves, radar, microwaves, light, gamma rays and X rays are all forms of ER and they all travel at " the speed of light"

Suppose Ismael is on earth and Mariela is on Mars. Mariela has a very bright light bulb on Mars. Mariela turns on the light bulb. How long does it take for Ismael to see the light turn on?

MARS..............................................................EARTHMariela............................................................Ismaellight bulb

(Find out the distance between Earth and Mars.The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second.)

At the same time Brian is on earth and Janet is on Mars. Janet has a battery; Brian has a light bulb. Suppose a very long pair of wires goes from the + side of the battery on Mars all the way to the light bulb on Earth and back to the Janet's hand on Mars. She connects the wire to the side of the battery. How long does it take before Brian sees the light bulb turn on?

MARS............................................................EARTHJanet................................................................Brianbattery + --------------------------------------light battery - --------------------------------------bulb

Your question is: Does it take less time for Ismael to see the light, or for Brian to see the light?

One of the principles of physics is that NOTHING goes faster than the speed of light in space.

Therefore it is impossible for Brian to see the light before Ismael.(Electricity is NOT faster than Light.)

However, is it possible for Ismael to see the light at the same time as Ismael? (In otherwords, Is Electricty AS FAST as Light?) The answer: ALMOST but NOT QUITE. It is impossible for him to see it at a different time !" Just how fast the Electricity goes depends on the shape of the two wires going from Mars to Earth.

WHY?

Another principle of physics is that Light and Electricity are the SAME THING. Electricity is just Light guided along wires. (Sort of.)

But this "guiding" of light along the wires makes it slow down little.

Light travels through empty space at 186,000 miles per second. The electricity which flows through the wires in your homes and appliances travels much slower: only about 1/100 th the speed of light. Part of the reason is that light is massless; it has no weight, whereas the electricity flowing in the wires is made up of a stream of electrons, all of which have some small amount of weight. In addition, the electrons flowing through the wires constantly bump into the atoms of the wire, which slows them down considerably. If you were to take the electrons out of the wire and make them flow through space (which is essentially what you do when you make a spark), they can move faster, but no matter what, they cannot move as fast light.

It is very difficult to distinguish electricity from light.

Optical radiation called light is the same thing as x-ray radiation is the same thing as microwave radiation is the same as infrared radiation is the same as radio waves.

They are all caused by alternating electric charge or electric current. In free space the radiation travels at the "speed of light" but the radiation can also travel down two wires at the speed of light unless the two wires are surrounded a dielectric like plastic.