Science Memes

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Light (mander.xyz)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

If we're anthropomorphizing photons, lets imagine how it experienced time. Most of those 93 million miles was instantaneous. Then for the the tiniest fraction of a second you're screaming through thickening atmosphere before hitting someone and making a cone in their eye dance around like one of those fan powered air dancers at a used car lot. Maybe you even bounced off one those fan powered air dancers at a used car lot.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The photon perceives the entire journey as instantaneous. Individual photons always travel at C. The EM waves propagate slower in materials like glass and water, but the individual photons do not slow down. So the thickening atmosphere part of your story is technically a little off. The speed of light is slower but the photons are not. It has to do with waves interference patterns.

Skip to 5:15 in this video for a better explanation than I could ever give.

https://youtu.be/HZD4MR0KgqA?si=j1Q7PvXZHHXANewV