# Speed of Dark

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-dark/210397>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 30, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-dark/210397 "2003-10-30T05:59:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-dark/210397/21 "2003-11-02T23:01:40Z")

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Darkness has to be faster, 'cause it got there first:

> [@](#):
>
> And the earth was without form, and void; and **darkness** was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.  
> And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Sorry. Couldn’t resist the Pratchian opportunity.

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**Author:** ![PosterChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@PosterChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PosterChild)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-dark/210397/22 "2003-11-02T23:05:40Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MC Master of Ceremonies \*  
> Firtsly there’s no wall at the edge of the universe and indeed no edge to the universe. There’s no lmit to the speed of the spot as the wall it is shining on can be arbitarily far away. The limit on the dominoes falling is c.

“Firtsly” I have to say I’m shocked that the hypothetical wall does not exist.  
Secondly, are you saying that the spot could move infinitely fast? Does that mean you could transmit info in this manner that fast?  
PC

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**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-dark/210397/23 "2003-11-02T23:16:52Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by PosterChild \*  
> \*\*“Firtsly” I have to say I’m shocked that the hypothetical wall does not exist.  
> Secondly, are you saying that the spot could move infinitely fast? Does that mean you could transmit info in this manner that fast?  
> PC \*\*

Well, you’d be suprised how many people do think there is some sort of barrier at the edge of the universe. If you think of a spot moving around in a circle at say 1 Hz, the speed of this spot is entirely dependent on the size of the circle and increases to an arbitarily large value when the radius of the circle is increased in a simlair fashion.

You cannot use this to tranmit info tho’ as points on this circle are not casually related to each other, they are casually related to the light source at the centre, so in order to broadcast information from one point to the other using the the light spot you would have to send the informaion via the light source.

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**Author:** ![PosterChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@PosterChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PosterChild)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-of-dark/210397/24 "2003-11-02T23:20:49Z")

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Thanks. 🙂

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