Guest guest Posted May 12, 2000 Report Share Posted May 12, 2000 Further to posting from Anurag Goel <anurag 12 May 2000 08:02 Re: [ramakrishna] light > Jay yesterday a friend raised some doubts and after that i sat down to > understand the constancy of speed of light. > > This constancy of light > sounds mysterious, I was trying to understand it and then as I was reading > through the article which said that light propagates as alterations in > magnetic and electric field. . > > Then I thought that this way if speed of light is going to be constant > then we will always be at rest with respect to speed of light. > Meaning universe is at rest with respect to speed of light. > > It's confusing and my explanation seems wrong because if such is the case > then light will never be able to reach us. > > What do u say Jay ? > > love, > anurag Hi Anurag Light is one of the most interesting aspects of Physics. It gives us a hint that it is something more than mere physical phenomenon. According to me this is the link between Physics and Indian Metaphysics. ( I am working on this theme right now). The only thing Physics can do is to look at this phenomenon and try and come to terms with what it does and does not do! Let me draw on some of the interesting aspects of light (1) It travels at constant speed in vacuum. (about 300,000km/sec) -If you decide to run with a light beam at say nearly the same speed to try and catch up and then look at it - you find that it is still racing away from you at the same 300,000 km/sec. In fact it was this mental picture that Einstein used to develop his theory of Special Relativity. He said - that he imagined himself to be racing with a beam of light at the speed of light - then what would he see? Would the beam of light appear stationary to him? It is a fascinating way to do Physics -- 'just thought experiments'. He came to the conclusion that light cannot be stationary - hence something else has to give way. The result was the abandonment of ideas that space and time are separate and absolute - they were replaced with Relativistic 4 dimensional Space / Time. It says my perception of space and time and your perception of space and time are relative but both of us will agree on the same speed of light. Conclusion: Light in a sense is more absolute than space or time. Further development of this 'unusual feature of light' translates into the famous equation E=mxspeed of light squared. Again equivalence of mass to energy comes via this speed of light. (2) This is just one aspect of Light - In the other field of Physics - Quantum Mechanics it plays an even more central role. We can perhaps develop this further some other time. regards jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 12, 2000 Report Share Posted May 12, 2000 On 5/12/00 at 9:59 AM Vivekananda Centre wrote: ¤[...] ¤It says my perception of space and time and your perception of space and ¤time are relative but both of us will agree on the same speed of light. ¤Conclusion: Light in a sense is more absolute than space or time. ¤Further development of this 'unusual feature of light' translates into the ¤famous equation E=mxspeed of light squared. ¤Again equivalence of mass to energy comes via this speed of light. ¤ ¤(2) This is just one aspect of Light - In the other field of Physics - ¤Quantum Mechanics it plays an even more central role. ¤We can perhaps develop this further some other time. ¤ ¤regards ¤jay Some time ago I was reading about a "minor" quirk though: the background radiation is "too" flat, which can only mean that somehow there has been an opportunity to attain this uniformity, with the consequence that the radius of the universe has to be bigger than lifetime*c and this is rather uncomfortable. But assuming that c hasn't always been a constant, brings theory and observation together again at the expense of the "holy grail of physics", the constancy of c Jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 12, 2000 Report Share Posted May 12, 2000 Can science explain the phenomena of sight or smell or any sense ? Take for example sight, I see an object. Science says, the reflected light from the object impacts on my retina. This stimulates the optic nerve appropriately and the brain receives an electric signal which then translates into an image. However, how can the instrument of sight see ? The very fact that the brain is the interpreter means that it does not see, something behind it must see. Let us go one step further, How is it possible to see 3 dimensional space? The explanation given above by science can be used to build an advanced object avoidance robot. However this robot cannot "see" the world , be it the most advanced object detector. It can only say that such and such an object exists at this geometric location. But , we "see" and the method of science just does not explain this. The Bhagavad Gita explains it beautifully. The sense objects coming into contact with the senses give rise to experiences of opposites. These "Gunas" exist . Light, sound etc are modifications of the gunas and therefore sight, hearing are part of the manas, the cosmic mind. Any comments, elaborations or contradictions to this ? Om, Anand On Fri, 12 May 2000 09:59:24 Vivekananda Centre wrote: >Further to posting from >Anurag Goel <anurag >12 May 2000 08:02 >Re: [ramakrishna] light > >> Jay yesterday a friend raised some doubts and after that i sat down to >> understand the constancy of speed of light. >> >> This constancy of light >> sounds mysterious, I was trying to understand it and then as I was reading >> through the article which said that light propagates as alterations in >> magnetic and electric field. . >> >> Then I thought that this way if speed of light is going to be constant >> then we will always be at rest with respect to speed of light. >> Meaning universe is at rest with respect to speed of light. >> >> It's confusing and my explanation seems wrong because if such is the case >> then light will never be able to reach us. >> >> What do u say Jay ? >> >> love, >> anurag > > A FREE web-based e-mail service brought to you by the PC World Technology Network. Get your FREE account today at http://www.myworldmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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