Thinking Like Einstein- Light

Suppose i am in a closed room and there are two bulbs on opposite walls. the light coming from them "intersect" at a point but have no effect on one another. Why? it seems as if they just pass through each other. Why? and How?

#Physics

Easy Math Editor

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Comments

Your statement that they don't interact is actually wrong....the right statement is that they don't interact very much. :) But the difference is important, as it makes light act more like any other particle. Particles interact with each other, just with different strengths.

David Mattingly Staff - 7 years, 11 months ago

Thanks

Tushar Gopalka - 7 years, 11 months ago

When they meet as they are transparent they pass through each other or small amount of refraction takes place.......Hope this is correct

Karthik Datta - 7 years, 11 months ago

As light functions both as a wave and as a particle, two sources of light opposite each other. What you would see over time would be a two point source interference pattern at the center as a result of basic quantum effects.

Edit: You're asking about quantum effects, and these quantum effects are primarily invisible outside of a very small influence in the form of wave interference. Let me put this differently. As light is the force carrying particle of the electromagnetic force, it essentially does not "exist" until it is absorbed or interacts with an object. There are an infinite collection of different paths that the light may take to get to a given point, obeying Feynman's path integral formulation. Despite the simplest explanation, photons are not individual tiny balls that are sent and transfer energy when they hit things. A photon interferes with itself, with all of its different paths being important in formulating the observed interaction. A photon however, does not pass through another photon, as until they come to realization, they act generally as waves, which is what you see focusing on small quantum areas.

To put it simply, photons may as well not exist, where only the final "product" is important.

Eric Zelikman - 7 years, 11 months ago

this is a little bit satisfactory....but still I believe there's a better explanation..no offence though...Thanks for answering........

Tushar Gopalka - 7 years, 11 months ago

I've updated my original explanation with more information to possibly elucidate it further (Also, it's written Einstein).

Eric Zelikman - 7 years, 11 months ago

Please, David answer this...

Tushar Gopalka - 7 years, 11 months ago

yes what can we under stand light??????????????????????????

Attain k Gupta - 7 years, 11 months ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$