some thoughts about light

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some thoughts about light

Postby papernuke » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:04 am

Light, composed of photons, is massless.
So something is massless, what would be the propellant for it to move so quickly forward?
also, how is light emitted? are the photons created before they are emitted or are they there beforehand?
if they are there beforehand, then, using some rudimentary physics,
force=mass x acceleration,
then you could not apply a force on the photon because it is massless so the forrce always = 0.
but if you changed the equation into
acceleration=force/mass, then it would become undefined because you divide by zero.. strange

if they were created as they were emitted, it would make more sense because they are massless, so it does not count as 'energy' so could be created or destroyed, but then how is it 'created or destroyed'?

Also, how can light follow the wave-particle duality if it is massless and being a particle requires mass?

thanks
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Re: some thoughts about light

Postby wendy » Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:55 am

Light is an EM wave, which is shown by Maxwell, to move at the EM velocity of 983574900 ft.

It should be noted that for energy to move without mass, this is only mayly at the EM velocity, because this is the nature of space-time itself. Light is not propelled: it has no room except to vibrate at this velocity.
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Re: some thoughts about light

Postby papernuke » Fri Jan 30, 2009 3:25 pm

wendy wrote:Light is an EM wave, which is shown by Maxwell, to move at the EM velocity of 983574900 ft.

Has it been discovered why it travels at that speed?(in a vacuum, i assume)
i mean, having it travel instantaneously would break quite a few laws of physics, but why doesn't it travel at a higher speed?

It should be noted that for energy to move without mass, this is only mayly at the EM velocity,

What does 'this is only mayly at the EM velocity' mean? or is it just a typo
And is there any other way for energy to move without mass then?

Light is not propelled: it has no room except to vibrate at this velocity.

How can it not have room but to vibrate at that velocity?
and why only that velocity? as i said earlier, why can't it go faster? (or slower, for that matter)
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