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----------------------------- 2182 - Light is traveling Energy
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- Our whole Universe changed when Albert Einstein concluded that the speed of light is finite, and always constant and absolute.
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- Maxwell and others had already determined an interrelationship between light, electric charge, magnetism, and electromagnetic radiation. In order to make the speed of light absolute and constant then the equations had to allow space and time to change. Space got bigger and time got slower as the velocity of an object approached the speed of light. The absolute speed of light is 182,282 miles per second, in a vacuum, or in space.
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- But , light can move slower is other medium:
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- Light travels through water at 140,000 mps.
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- Light travels through glass at 125,000 mps.
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- That is why a glass lens is able to work. The wave of light goes through the glass and the light is slowed down more in the thick part of the glass at the center and less in the thin part of the glass around the edge. The light bends. The result is a focus that fools your eye into seeing a magnified image, an image that your mind sees is there but it is not really there.
- A diamond delays light so much going through carbon that each wave length bends off in a different direction, giving the diamond sparkle and brilliance.
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- It is even possible to create a super cold condensation in the laboratory in which light passes through at 38 miles per hour, nearly stopped. In fact, the most recent lab experiments have slowed light pulses to a stand still.
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- However, light slowing down is an illusion. Light never really changes its velocity. Instead each particle of light each photon, is briefly absorbed by an atom in the material it is traveling through. A moment later, the atom emits another photon which continues the journey through the material. Light appears to slow down when traveling through some material other than a vacuum.
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- So, in a particular medium, such as water, it is possible for charged particles to travel faster than light in that medium. This is like breaking the sound barrier in water, only it is the light barrier. When the light barrier is broken a blue glow of radiation is produced, called the Cerenkov radiation.
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- Cerenkov radiation is used to detect cosmic rays coming from outer space. Scientists fill caves deep under ground with pure water and put photo detectors around the walls to detect the Cerenkov radiation flashes. They can then calculate the size of the cosmic ray, a charged particle and its velocity.
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- They have discovered that most cosmic rays are protons, or the nucleus of the hydrogen atom. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe so that is not surprising. What is a mystery is how these particles can get accelerated to the enormous speeds, approaching the speed of light in space and exceeding the speed of light in water.
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- As an object, or an astronaut, approaches the speed of light the object passes through space quickly but barely passes through time. The faster you go the slower time goes. If you take this thought to the limit then light, which is traveling at the speed of light, experiences no time at all.
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- A photon traveling at 186,282 miles per second is experiencing being everywhere in the universe all at once. In one second the photon covers 186,282 miles of space but does not experience the elapsed second at all. Time is not there.
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- You look outdoors and light is everywhere. It is coming from a single star, our Sun, and it takes 8 minutes to reach us. Then it strikes our atmosphere and turns our sky blue and reflects off most every object to fill our world with what we see. Yet, it sees the whole Universe at once. How do you wrap your mind around that concept?
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- Of course, we have had only 100 years to think about it so maybe someone will come up with an explanation that will make sense. My bet is that it will be mathematical.
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- The speed of Light = the square root of Energy / Mass
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- The speed of light times itself = Energy / Mass
- But mass is energy so:
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- The speed of light times itself = “Energy”
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- Then according to Maxwell’s equations:
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- The speed of light times itself = 1/ the magnetic constant + the electric charge constant.
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- These are two of nature’s constants that define the force of a magnetic field and the electrostatic force of two charged particles. Maxwell’s equations show how electricity produces magnetism and in reverse, magnetism can produce electricity. This is what allowed Maxwell to deduce that light was a electromagnetic wave.
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- Maxwell also concluded that there must be an entire spectrum of electromagnetic radiation yet to be discovered. The spectrum spreads from radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-rays, to gamma rays.
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- All this radiation travels through space at the speed of light but experiences no time. We may need another 100 years to figure this out.
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- Another Review 34: “Getting Light from Electricity and Magnetism“. How Maxwell’s equations discovered the nature of light.
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- November 21, 2018 589
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-------------------------- Saturday, November 24, 2018 --------------------------
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