psynapse Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 I am sorry if this seems obvious because it just came to mind. AFAIK an object that reverses direction has to stop momentarilly. Eg. a pendulum. How does a photon maintain a constant velocity when reflecting off a surface, lets say perfectly bouncing back along the same path it traveled towards the mirror? Does it stop and then speed up again? This sounds ridiculous, I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 It's a different photon. The first one gets absorbed and then another one identical but traveling in the opposite direction of emmited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psynapse Posted November 10, 2006 Author Share Posted November 10, 2006 Thanks for the well explained reply. I was thinking along the lines of wave sounds, and the transfer of energy. What do you think of the idea that light is an energy vibrating in the fifth dimension? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edtharan Posted November 10, 2006 Share Posted November 10, 2006 Well .light is just an electromagnetic wave. It is an electric and magnetic field oscillating back and forth perpendicular to each other and to the direction of travel. there does not need to be any other dimension other then the normal 3 involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted November 10, 2006 Share Posted November 10, 2006 Well .light is just an electromagnetic wave. It is an electric and magnetic field oscillating back and forth perpendicular to each other and to the direction of travel. there does not need to be any other dimension other then the normal 3 involved. 4, don't forget time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragib Posted November 10, 2006 Share Posted November 10, 2006 well in elementary physics, 4 is fine, but in relativity advanced theories, new diemensions are introduced in the desire to explain all things as distortions of spacetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 well in elementary physics, 4 is fine, but in relativity advanced theories, new diemensions are introduced in the desire to explain all things as distortions of spacetime. But the number is theory specific, and there is currently little to no experimental evidence, so, let's stick with 4 shall we. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psynapse Posted November 11, 2006 Author Share Posted November 11, 2006 How do the electromagnetic waves travel? Doesn't a wave need a medium, if not then it isn't a wave then, or is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klaynos Posted November 11, 2006 Share Posted November 11, 2006 How do the electromagnetic waves travel? Doesn't a wave need a medium, if not then it isn't a wave then, or is it? EM waves are indeed waves, and they do not need a medium. They are bootstraping (self propergating) waves in the electric and magnetic fields. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psynapse Posted November 12, 2006 Author Share Posted November 12, 2006 Can you elaborate on that answer? How does a wave "self propagate"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Can you elaborate on that answer? How does a wave "self propagate"? A changing magnetic field induces an electric field. A changing electric field induces a magnetic field. Do it properly and they keep oscillating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragib Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 You could choose to think of as a particle and a wave. Physicists will tell you that they are only one at a time, choosing on how we observe it, but i find a good analogy is that it is both at the same time. A photon isa particle attracted by both a magnetic and electric field, just an analogy. Now, an electric field is created, athe photon goes there, the magnetic field is now induced, and the photon goes there, and keeps going so the photon, the light, has travelled 'through' a medium it has created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sequence Posted November 22, 2006 Share Posted November 22, 2006 That's an excellent explantion. I've been trying to learn more about physics latly but my brain is so geared toward thinking like the observed world that it's hard. I should just stick with biology......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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