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Hiddenjems

Well-known member
Or any other photon, for that matter.

What's really spooky is, no matter how fast you are travelling – even 99.99% the speed of light – a photon will always travel at the speed of light away from you in your plane of reference.

How the fuck does the photon know how fast you are going and how does it increase its (relative) speed with that knowledge?
Light does this trick because of space time manipulations due to motion.


What I was talking about was called the ultraviolet catastrophe.


Spooky action at a distance has to do with the instantaneous actions of particles that are entangled with each other. This instant action at a distance breaks the light speed limit imposed by Einstein. He didn’t buy it.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
The speed of light is constant. Don't argue with me, argue with Einstein!
I didn't say otherwise, the train example is his, not mine. However our posts differ, as Einsteins is theoretical, and says as I did, that the observer is traveling at light speed.

In his example, you would say time has stopped, it seems? Things start falling apart if we extrapolate that far. I'm going to need longer to think about it..
 

Rocket Soul

Well-known member
The speed of light is constant. Don't argue with me, argue with Einstein!

But let me explain below.


OK, I was kinda joking. The photon doesn't "know" anything.

First, we need to establish that no mass can travel at the speed of light.

However, let's assume we can get near the speed of light. 99.99% recurring. Or whatever.

As you near the speed of light, time slows down proportionally.

Photons are still travelling at the speed of light, but now – relative to the observer who is travelling near the speed of light – the photons have more "time" to travel the same distance away from the observer.

Let's look at it mathematically. Caveat: this is an example, not an actual calculation. I am going to round the numbers for simplicity.

Photon = 300,000,000 m/s
Observer = 299,999,999 m/s

Light is now travelling at 1 m/s faster than the observer.

HOWEVER, the definition of "1 second" has now changed. Inertial planes of reference do not apply to photons, so a photon "second" is the same (indeed, photons don't experience time at all!)

"1 second" to the observer is now "299,999,999 seconds" to the photon

So the photon is STILL travelling at 299,999,999 + 1 m/s = 300,000,000 m/s in relation to the observer

Does that make sense?

TLDR
Time slows proportionally to speed. As you travel faster, time will slow to you, but not the photon (or anyone else who is not moving).

Therefore, as you speed up, the photon has more time to stay ahead of you at . . . you guessed it, the speed of light!
Actually speed of light is only constant in vacuum, but its speed depends on which media its travelling in. Iys actually slower in water, and you can actually beat the speed of "slower light", this is part of why radioactive stuff can give a weird kind of light sheen, but you cannot beat light speed in vacuum.
 

CharlesU Farley

Well-known member
Actually speed of light is only constant in vacuum, but its speed depends on which media its travelling in. Iys actually slower in water, and you can actually beat the speed of "slower light", this is part of why radioactive stuff can give a weird kind of light sheen, but you cannot beat light speed in vacuum.
Interesting that light travels slower in water yet sound travels faster?
 

CharlesU Farley

Well-known member
It is, but both things are very different. Light travels thru water, while sound in water actually is the water, or pressure waves in water.
For faster than light speed in water Cherenkov radiation is a good starting point for googling and research.
In my basic, blunt way of understanding the real world, I always think of photons as individual, moving _particles_, while sound is a collection of particles moving in _waves_.

I'm of the belief, regardless of theoretical science and physics that may prove otherwise, that absolutely _nothing_ can travel faster than the speed of light in the vacuum of space... in the real, not theoretical, world. :)
 
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Ca++

Well-known member
Particles of a product that travels in waves, perhaps. As the idea of particles seems to fit best, but it can be seen acting as a wave. Considering the spooky thing though, it's not surprising.
 

Hiddenjems

Well-known member
Particles of a product that travels in waves, perhaps. As the idea of particles seems to fit best, but it can be seen acting as a wave. Considering the spooky thing though, it's not surprising.
Read up on wave/particle duality. If you’re really brave check out the wave function.
 

Ca++

Well-known member
Read up on wave/particle duality. If you’re really brave check out the wave function.
A bit of light bedtime reading.

I like to see peoples short takes on the subject, but in cause and effect terms, I can't spend any time on it. That's to say, it has my interest, but is very time consuming, with no practical use in my life. So I will have to skirt around the heavy stuff, and wait for the 30 minute BBC documentary :)
 

Rocket Soul

Well-known member
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