No..not that dark side
Most of us already know that darkness is the absence of light, and that light travels at the fastest speed possible for a physical object.
But what is darkness? This question, like many others, centers on a negative concept. There are a few of these running around and it is fairly common to get tripped up by them, but part of the fun in science is when you can apply negative concepts to positive ones, helping us better understand how each facet of the universe works together AND independently. One such negative concept asks: “What is darkness?” “And is there such a thing as the speed of darkness?”
What is the speed of dark?
In order to know what the speed of darkness is, or anything else about it, we would have to quantify it. What is it? Well darkness is the absence of light. So darkness isn’t a thing, it is instead the lack of a thing. Therefore questions about characteristics of darkness, which is an absence instead of a presence, become hard to define.
So, what does this mean? In short, it means that, the moment that light leaves, darkness returns. In this respect, darkness has the same speed as light. However, in some instances, darkness actually moves faster than light.
How is this possible? What is the highest possible speed of darkness? Find out in this new episode of Vsauce. The explanation will blow your mind.
