It is so, so refreshing to actually get an answer straight up instead of 6 paragraphs about the context, and how the author came to learn it, and what confusion might be, and how other constants have other names etc.
Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
11–20 of 47 posts
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#12> The same Latin root is found in more familiar words such as acceleration and even celebrity, a word used when fame comes quickly. According to the OED, celebrity comes from the Latin “celebritās, [the] state of being busy or crowded, festival, games or other celebration characterized by crowded conditions, reputation, renown, fame, frequency or commonness.” https://www.oed.com/dictionary/celebrity_n?tab=etymology#9…
I was going to make the same point!
Wiktionary notes that celer and celeber could be related but are likely not. (I'm not sure whether there's more recent debate on this point.)
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#13Something related which I've not been able to find the root of - in some older British mathematics textbooks, F=ma is written instead p=mf (and this is definitely p meaning force and f acceleration and not an equivalent formula in terms of impulse or similar). I would love to know why these letters were used.
The p is probably Latin potentia or French puissance, but I'm not sure about the f!
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#14You name C things which are fast.
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#15Something related which I've not been able to find the root of - in some older British mathematics textbooks, F=ma is written instead p=mf (and this is definitely p meaning force and f acceleration and not an equivalent formula in terms of impulse or similar). I would love to know why these letters were used.
Are you sure you didn't read p=mg instead ?
poids = masse * gravité
weight = mass * gravity
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#16It is so, so refreshing to actually get an answer straight up instead of 6 paragraphs about the context, and how the author came to learn it, and what confusion might be, and how other constants have other names etc.
Right! Most articles I stumble upon nowadays is filled with everything besides the answer until I scroll to the bottom.
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#17It is so, so refreshing to actually get an answer straight up instead of 6 paragraphs about the context, and how the author came to learn it, and what confusion might be, and how other constants have other names etc.
I scroll to 70% and by then the secret is given out.
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#18It is so, so refreshing to actually get an answer straight up instead of 6 paragraphs about the context, and how the author came to learn it, and what confusion might be, and how other constants have other names etc.
Right! Most articles I stumble upon nowadays is filled with everything besides the answer until I scroll to the bottom.
Thank the SEO practices for that :(
It is often understood that in order to rank on Google you have to have a certain length to the content.
So then what do people do when they want to write about something that has a simple answer? Why, pad it with heaps of unnecessary paragraphs of garbage text of course. All in the name of ranking.
And what’s more is, the longer the text is the more space is available for inserting more ads to bombard the reader with as well. Which further serves to incentivise adding filler text that is not really useful to the reader.
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#19First letter from the Latin for Speed.
I remember seeing a cartoon of Einstein at the blackboard on which the equation E=ma^2 (crossed out) then E=mb^2 (crossed out) and finally E=mc^2 with a beaming Einstein.
Re: Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)
#20> Weber apparently meant c to stand for "constant" in his force law, but there is evidence that physicists such as Lorentz and Einstein were accustomed to a common convention that c could be used as a variable for velocity. This usage can be traced back to the classic Latin texts in which c stood for "celeritas" meaning "speed". The uncommon English word "celerity" is still used when referring to the speed of wave propagation in fluids. The same Latin root is found in more familiar words such as acceleration and even celebrity, a word used when fame comes quickly.
Although the c symbol was adapted from Weber's constant, it was probably thought appropriate for it to represent the velocity of light later on because of this Latin interpretation. So history provides an ambiguous answer to the question "Why is c the symbol for the speed of light?", and it is reasonable to think of c as standing for either "constant" or "celeritas".