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tma73
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Just wondering how a photon reacts when it is affected by gravity of an object in space like a star.
Does the gravity actually bend the light/photons?
Say you have a series of photons in a perfect line, all travelling, well, at the speed of light toward a massive object(x).
The photons in the objects direct path will collide with that object. The photons that will 'barely' avoid this massive object will be bent?
Photons further away with no gravitational influence of this massive object...of course keep their 'speed of light'.
So, I guess what I'm asking the photons being 'warped' by object(x)'s gravity will be (slightly) behind the photons who were not affected by the gravity?
The photons/light that were 'bent' by gravity still traveled at the speed of light? it's just maybe they traveled a little further than photons that were not affect by Object(x)?
I understand that gravity does not bend light/photons it's already the 'curvature of space time created by Object(x) (correct?)
tma73
btw, I read this in the FAQ section:
Does the gravity actually bend the light/photons?
Say you have a series of photons in a perfect line, all travelling, well, at the speed of light toward a massive object(x).
The photons in the objects direct path will collide with that object. The photons that will 'barely' avoid this massive object will be bent?
Photons further away with no gravitational influence of this massive object...of course keep their 'speed of light'.
So, I guess what I'm asking the photons being 'warped' by object(x)'s gravity will be (slightly) behind the photons who were not affected by the gravity?
The photons/light that were 'bent' by gravity still traveled at the speed of light? it's just maybe they traveled a little further than photons that were not affect by Object(x)?
I understand that gravity does not bend light/photons it's already the 'curvature of space time created by Object(x) (correct?)
tma73
btw, I read this in the FAQ section:
In general relativity, gravitation is a manifestation of the curvature of spacetime. The motion of all objects is affected by this curvature, regardless of whether they have mass or not. Light follows geodesic paths in spacetime, which are straight lines in flat spacetime, and curved paths in curved spacetime.
Note that by "mass" above I mean "invariant mass" as discussed in the following FAQ:
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=511175
because it is the invariant mass that is zero for a photon. If you prefer to think in terms of "relativistic mass" (which is related to energy via E=mrelc2" role="presentation" style="display: inline-block; line-height: 0; font-size: 18.08px; word-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 1px 0px; font-family: "PT Sans", san-serif; position: relative;">E=mrelc2E=mrelc2, note that all photons (as far as we know) follow the same geodesics, regardless of their energy. This has been verified, for example, by comparing the deflection of visible light as it passes close to the sun, with the deflection of radio waves from distant sources.
The following forum members have contributed to this FAQ:
jtbell
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