luke warm, on Jun 8 2008, 08:11 AM, said:
ok, i'm muddling along i think... i guess, given the very small child understanding i have of this, the thought of light mass (of any kind, relativistic or otherwise) makes me wonder why C should be a constant
Welcome to the wonderful (and I mean that literally) world of scientific thinking, LW
We have had, and will no doubt continue to have, our differences in world view, but I suspect that these differences may diminish if this thread reflects an interest in understanding the model of the universe as currently postulated... and the ongoing efforts to improve that model.
FWIW, while the concepts surrounding light and phenomena such as gravitational lensing and black holes are fascinating, the real mind-blower of all that I have read about light is the 'twin slit experiment'.
To crudely, and perhaps inaccurately, summarize:
We have a light source that we can make emit only one photon at a time and we aim the photon at a barrier in which we have two slits. We observe the pattern that these photons make on a surface beyond the barrier. We note that we see a pattern suggesting that the photon, which is a single, indivisible 'thing', appears to be going through BOTH slits simultaneously! Somehow the photon seems to divide and then recombine. It is acting as if it were a wave.
This is weird, but add a detector adjacent to each slit... so that we can 'see' the photon as it goes through the slits. Mind, there is otherwise NO difference to the experimental setup.
Now, the photon goes through only ONE slit, and the pattern on the surface is different than the one when we are not observing the slits! It is acting as if it were a particle.
This is part of the wonder of the world revealed by the scientific method.
Maybe there is some quantum scientist who can intuitively visualize these things, but my suspicion is that this type of phenomenum, which takes place on a scale that our senses did not evolve to be able to observe directly, is likely beyond the capacity of our meat brains to ever fully comprehend, on an intuitive 'oh, yes, I get this' basis.
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari