Tomtom said:I've just found two threads on this forum concerning the topic, but there are no clear answers.
An interesting question: Einstein said that light is deflected by a massive object, but is light deflected gravitationally by light? Tolman, Ehrenfest, and Podolsky discovered that in the weak field limit two light beams moving in the same direction do not interact gravitationally, but two light beams moving in opposite directions do.
MeJennifer said:Even in special relativity one can make some inferences about the directions of two photons. For instance a system of two photons moving in the same direction has no rest mass while a system of two photons moving in opposite directions has a rest mass.
coelho said:Is it because we could define a "center of mass" of the systems of two photons, and in the case of the photons moving in opposite directions this center of mass would be moving at v<c (what allows a rest mass)
Light bends due to the phenomenon of refraction, which occurs when light passes through a medium with a different refractive index. This causes the light ray to change direction, resulting in bending.
As mentioned before, light bends due to refraction. This can be caused by a change in the density of the medium it is passing through, such as from air to water or from air to glass.
Yes, light is always bent when passing through a medium with a different refractive index. However, the degree of bending depends on the angle of incidence and the refractive indices of the two mediums.
No, light cannot bend in a vacuum as it is not passing through any medium. It travels in a straight line in a vacuum unless it is affected by a gravitational field.
Light bending is used in various everyday applications, such as in lenses for glasses and cameras, prisms for creating rainbows, and fiber optic cables for telecommunication. It also plays a crucial role in the functioning of our eyes, allowing us to see objects clearly.