Tim_Lou Posted November 8, 2004 Report Share Posted November 8, 2004 hehe, an idea pops out in my head. speed is a scaler value, it involves only magnitude. so, photo acts like a wave, it goes up and down, the speed of a photon differs all the time. (it is total distant travelled divide by time. if a photon travels up and down for 4 meters, the total distant is actually more than 4 meters.) velocity is a vector value, it involves magnitude and direction, so velocity of light should be right one. well... people always say the velocity of light is constant... not really, the direction of photons are not the same all the time : ), so, the magnitude of velocity of light is always the same... the direction is not. am i right? or? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctus Posted November 9, 2004 Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 I think you are wrong, becuase if you look at a photon as wave you've got the wave vector K that tells you the direction and the speed is just the prpagation of the wholel wave. So if look at the photon as a particle that moving up and down isn't there and the speed and direction stays constant. If you put a force somewhere in your system, then you would still have the norm of your vectorial speed of the photon being constant, while the direction wouldn't. NOw is there such a force? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim_Lou Posted November 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2004 no, what i mean is the concept of speed and velocity, the differences between them. speed is the total distant divide by time, in the case of a photon, it will be the length of the curve divide by time.velocity is what wer looking for, since it is the displacement over time. the distant from one point to another, while direction stays the same. hmm... a force : , gravity?well, what i mean by different direction is the scatter from a light source and reflection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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