how fast does light think light travels?(physics question)

[Nash]

A really stupid question, requiring a dumbed down answer.

Does light ever disolve into nothingness? Can it get absorbed and dissipate? Or mutate into some other kind of energy?

Or does it merely reflect and go on in a different direction, existing as light forever?

[Hawklore]

[MrCoffee]

Why does the intensity of light dissipate with distance?

[Torque]

Originally posted by Nash
A really stupid question, requiring a dumbed down answer.

Does light ever disolve into nothingness? Can it get absorbed and dissipate? Or mutate into some other kind of energy?

Or does it merely reflect and go on in a different direction, existing as light forever?

Plants eat it.

[Nash]

Okay enough with the vaguery... (is that even a word?)

I probably won't understand even the most simplistic of answers, let alone this stuff.

But I thought of this question yesterday for some really odd reason, and thought about it again today. And alas, this post shows up. It behooves me to take advantage of it.

Pretend I'm half brain dead - not far from the truth.

[lasersailor184]

Time doesn't stand still.


Time doesn't change.

It's a constant measurement that has no effect on anything besides the ability to measure it.

Everything is somewhere in the universe at one point in time.


If light were cognitive, it would see that it travels a given distance over a certain given time.

[MrCoffee]

Evey time I think of this physics stuff, my brain wants to explode.

[OIO]

what mietla said.

its similar to the Ansible theory.

[VOR]

Isn't "time" just a way of keeping everything from happening at once?

[Otto]

Originally posted by Nash
A really stupid question, requiring a dumbed down answer.

Does light ever disolve into nothingness? Can it get absorbed and dissipate? Or mutate into some other kind of energy?

Or does it merely reflect and go on in a different direction, existing as light forever?

  Light can be 'bent' when it passes a large Mass like a star but it dosen't slow down as far as I know.  
  Does is it go on forever?  What happens when it reaches the end of the Univervise?   All good questions that I'm clueless to answer....

[AdmRose]

Einstein is wrong - Time is something that is perceived, not something that can be measured with the exception of temporal distance (i.e. something happened two weeks ago - temporal distance). Time is universally constant regardless of the speed of the perceiver.
Let me put it this way, if time stopped at the speed of light, we'd never see sunlight, or starlight, or moonlight, or anything having anything to do with light, because it would never move. Remember, distance = rate X time. If time is 0, then rate is meaningless, and distance would equal 0 then as well.
Unfortunately, since humanity will never reach the speed of light in any significant sense, this will all just remain a theory.

[Udie]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
Time doesn't stand still.


Time doesn't change.

It's a constant measurement that has no effect on anything besides the ability to measure it.

Everything is somewhere in the universe at one point in time.


If light were cognitive, it would see that it travels a given distance over a certain given time.

 No I don't think in relativity time is a constant, neither is space.  They've actaully proved this too.  I think the theory goes that a faster an object goes the slower it ages relative to the slower objects.  So they took 2 identical clocks set to the exact same time and put one in a plane and left the other on the ground.  When the clock returned the one that was left on the ground was ahead of the one that took the flight.  They say they have to use this in satalite navagation and stuff.  This stuff gives me a headache though. And I could be comepletely full of crap too so you never know.

[Swoop]

Originally posted by Udie
And I could be comepletely full of crap too so you never know.

Nuthin changes then.



 Heya bud!

[AKIron]

Time is the fire in which we burn.

[mietla]

Originally posted by Otto

  Does is it go on forever?

According to Feynamn and Wheeler, no. The emitting particle and the photon "knew" the absorbing particle at the time of the emission. If you limit yourself to the 3d space only, you have points in space separated by distance in space. In a 4d space-time, you have events separated by a distance in space-time (which includes both time and space constituents). The photon simply connects two events in space-time. To the photon, both the emission and tabroption happened at once.

 What happens when it reaches the end of the Univervise?   All good questions that I'm clueless to answer....

It will never reach the "end of the Universe".

If the Universe is open, since the photon is a part of the Universe when if reaches the "border" of the Universe, the Universe is expanded by this photon. The definition of Universe = all matter, energy, space, and time there is. Since photon has energy, if you place it "outside" the known, Universe, by definition you've expanded the Universe.


If the UNiverse is closed, it will behave like a 3d surface of the sphere in a 3d space. If you start flying in a particular direction above the surface of the Earth, because of the Earth curvature you'll eventually end up in the place you started from. Same thing with the closed Universe, but in 3d.