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hubble_bubble
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Can anyone tell me how light waves propogate. Will a photon have a trailing cone?
If a photon left a trailing cone, like a wake behind a boat or any other body moving through a medium, then we would be able to track its progress. But we can't.hubble_bubble said:Can anyone tell me how light waves propogate. Will a photon have a trailing cone?
hubble_bubble said:The way to test this would be to have two spheres one inside the other. The inner sphere would contain the slits as in the two slit experiment with a photon fired through. Detecting a 360 degree interference pattern around the sphere would be a proof.
hubble_bubble said:You could also have two cones one within the other at a set angle.
Any experiment that you can devise in an arbitrary inertial state that is supposed to identify the propagation of light will result in a false positive. So you better only do the experiment one time since on the surface of the earth, we are continually changing our approximately inertial state (due to the rotation of the earth, its revolving around the sun and the motion of the sun through our galaxy) and you apparently want to ignore all the other experiments that already confirm that we cannot identify the propagation of light.hubble_bubble said:Interestingly if this worked you may actually measure the size of a photon.
You haven't heard of the Michelson Morley Experiment?hubble_bubble said:I haven't read the experimental data. Do you have any links?
How do you expect to film a photon? It's not a bullet that you can shine a light on and see it from reflected light. A photon is light traveling away from you or on some path that doesn't intersect you. If it does intersect you, particularly in the eye, that's the end of the photon and you see it when it arrives at your eye but it doesn't provide a clue about when and where it was on its way to you, does it?hubble_bubble said:I have read it and digested it. The interference patterns are very interesting. In particular the spacing and width of the dark band. This doesn't, however preclude what I was saying in the first instance. Light speed is constant to all observer's. Whatever frame you are in. There is a peculiarity to light that no one seems to have noticed. If it were possible to film a photon from directly behind as it was fired, what would you record? The photon is traveling away from the observer. Would you still record it? Would you record it's entire journey to its target?
You have not suggested an experiment. All you did was say something that is gibberish and assume it means something. The phrase "...film a photon from directly behind as it was fired..." is meaningless at best. Scientists (and not just scientists!) film photons all the time. How photons are "filmed" is understood exquisitely well. You "film" a photon by colliding a detector with it. Period.hubble_bubble said:How do you know you are right? Have you tried the suggested experiment?
"Will it leave a trailing cone?" Is not an experiment either. Your "sphere experiment" is just the double slit experiment and it doesn't produce the results you suggest.hubble_bubble said:I also suggested the sphere and cone experiments.
Of course. Spacecraft do this. Heck, you can test this yourself by looking at satellites from your backyard.hubble_bubble said:OK how about this. If you had two spacecraft outside the Earth's atmosphere that shine a wide beam of light directly from one to the other so that the photons are absorbed completely at the target, would you see the light? There is no medium through which it travels so reflection would not be an issue.
No, you would not see the beam. Yes, it is invisible.Would you see it through a telescope? It is not traveling in your direction. Working from your argument the light beam would be invisible.
No, you would not see the light. How could you, you just said "the photons are absorbed completely at the target".hubble_bubble said:OK how about this. If you had two spacecraft outside the Earth's atmosphere that shine a wide beam of light directly from one to the other so that the photons are absorbed completely at the target, would you see the light?
If you want to see the beam, then you need to have some kind of an atmosphere to reflect part of the light back to you.hubble_bubble said:There is no medium through which it travels so reflection would not be an issue. Would you see it through a telescope? It is not traveling in your direction. Working from your argument the light beam would be invisible.
Light wave propagation refers to the way in which light travels through space. Light waves are electromagnetic waves that can travel through a vacuum or through a medium, such as air or water.
The speed and direction of light propagation can be affected by several factors, including the medium through which it is traveling, the temperature and density of the medium, and the presence of any obstacles or barriers in the path of the light.
The speed of light varies depending on the medium it is traveling through. In a vacuum, light travels at a speed of approximately 299,792,458 meters per second. In other mediums, such as air, water, or glass, the speed of light is slower due to interactions with particles in the medium.
Reflection occurs when light bounces off a surface, such as a mirror. Refraction is the bending of light as it passes through a medium, such as a lens. Diffraction is the bending and spreading of light as it passes through a narrow opening or around an obstacle.
Understanding light wave propagation is crucial in many fields, including optics, telecommunications, and astronomy. It allows us to create and use technologies such as microscopes, telescopes, and fiber optic cables. It also helps us to understand the behavior of light in our environment, such as how rainbows are formed or how colors appear in objects.