Donate SIGN UP

Ether exists.

Avatar Image
jezmatron | 23:04 Sun 06th Sep 2009 | Science
2 Answers
Light is a series of waves right? And waves need to be within something, hence the belief that ether existed. I am aware that it doesn't, but how is it that light can travel through space?
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 2 of 2rss feed

Avatar Image
Light is a series of waves - wrong.

The wave-particle duality of light is a complex matter but put simply light displays both particle and wave properties.

Light is a series of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. An accelerating charge like an electron causes a magnetic field to build up and die. This causes an electric field to do the same...
08:19 Mon 07th Sep 2009
Light is a series of waves - wrong.

The wave-particle duality of light is a complex matter but put simply light displays both particle and wave properties.

Light is a series of oscillating electric and magnetic fields. An accelerating charge like an electron causes a magnetic field to build up and die. This causes an electric field to do the same which causes a magnetic field. etc. etc.

These magnetic and electric fields do not require a medium to travel in and their build up and decay gives wave-like properties to light.
An excellent, accurate, concise answer from jake.

Light is very interesting because even though we have good descriptions of its behaviour we really don't have a good grasp of what light really is. It behaves like a particle and also wave but it is really neither. And in fact behaving like both a particle and a wave is prefectly normal in the atomic scale world. Protons and electons are not well defined solid lumps but fuzzy entities.

Light is light and it is a pretty amazing thing. It can even be turned into matter with the right conditions.

1 to 2 of 2rss feed

Do you know the answer?

Ether exists.

Answer Question >>

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.