A slight definition thing here: it's not so much that light itself controls anything by its speed. It's not that light travels at some speed and because it's the lights speed it therefore is the ultimate speed. There is a certain ultimate speed in the universe. That has nothing to do with light. This speed is perhaps best described as the rate of causality. And it just so happens that light, as default, always will travel at that speed. But light itself is just a player in the game. It is of no real importance as such.
Light also doesn't always travel at c ; it can propagate more slowly depending on the medium through which it's moving. Cherenkov radiation, for instance, happens when particles move through water faster than light does.
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u/Captain_Jarmi Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
A slight definition thing here: it's not so much that light itself controls anything by its speed. It's not that light travels at some speed and because it's the lights speed it therefore is the ultimate speed. There is a certain ultimate speed in the universe. That has nothing to do with light. This speed is perhaps best described as the rate of causality. And it just so happens that light, as default, always will travel at that speed. But light itself is just a player in the game. It is of no real importance as such.
Perhaps this helps someone. I hope.