For the first time in the history of mankind, a team of Scottish scientists have accomplished a feat never thought possible; they were able to make light travel slower than the speed of light.

In order to do this, the team sent individual particles of light - as photons - through a special mask. Once it passed the mask, the photons' shape changed and thus slowed down to less than the speed of light.

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Afterwards, the photons returned to free space and remained in their decreased speeds.

The experiment will change science's understanding of light.

For the longest time, science regarded the speed of light as an absolute value at 186,282 miles per seconds in free space.

While light slows down as it passes through water and glass, it quickly returns to its previously believed speed when it returns to free space. At least until now.

In order to test it out, the team raced the two photons. One photon left in its normal state while the other passed through the mask.

Just as expected, the photon that went through the mask came in second to the original photon. It came in a few millionths of a meter. This showed that it had not just been slowed, but also travelled at less than the speed of light when it returned to the free space.

Professor Padget of the University of Glasgow said that their experiment was unique because they had reduced it to a single photon.

The practical implications of this experiment are more numerous than one would imagine.

For instance, light is used to make extremely precise measurements such as how far the Moon is from Earth.

Researchers using large aperture lenses to accurately measure very short distances may be forced to take a closer look for some photons that may be lagging behind.

TagsSpeed of light