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Author Topic:   Request for help re light speed, emission of light, and time
vimesey
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Posts: 1398
From: Birmingham, England
Joined: 09-21-2011


Message 1 of 2 (654993)
03-06-2012 11:04 AM


I was wondering if I could ask some of our resident scientists to talk me through something which is causing me some confusion.
I have seen it explained in the past, on this site (although finding this will take more time than I have, so sorry there's no link), that whilst from, say, our perspective, it takes a photon of light 8 minutes to travel from the sun to the earth, from the perspective of the photon, it takes no time at all. It is travelling spatially at the speed of light, and therefore from its perspective its movement through the dimension of time is zero (since spatial velocity plus velocity in time cannot exceed C). (In fact, it is always equal to C, for everything).
(I am no scientist, so apologies for any awful expressions here).
What I find confusing therefore, is that in certain circumstances, light can be seen to act as a wave. This indicates to my simple way of thinking that a photon of light travelling in direction x spatially, will during that journey alternate between travelling in a positive and then a negative and then a positive y direction, and so on.
If its y direction during its journey alternates between positive and negative, does this not mean that the photon of light is undergoing a number of changes in state during its journey ?
And if this is the case, how is that reconciled with (from the perspective of the photon) no time passing during its journey ? In order for its state to change, does this not necessarily mean that time is passing from its perspective ? A change in state requires time to pass, doesn't it ?
Can somebody please tell me where I am going wrong ?
Many thanks.
vimesey
Edited by vimesey, : Had another thought

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Message 2 of 2 (655068)
03-06-2012 7:15 PM


Thread Copied to Big Bang and Cosmology Forum
Thread copied to the Request for help re light speed, emission of light, and time thread in the Big Bang and Cosmology forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.

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