speed of light?

Question

Whether light consists of matter or not, where does it get the energy to travel at such a high speed of 300000000 m/s? If light consists of matter, then it must need infinite amount of energy to travel at such a high speed? Anything massless can travel at such a speed. And another thing: electromagnetic radiation is made of what precisely. if it exists, it must be made of something. of what precisely?
THanKS

Answer 1

Photons. They are packets (or bundles) of energy and are massless.

Answer 2

In a classical sense, light does not consist of matter, but merely of electric and magnetic fields.

They are the interaction of electric and magnetic fields as described by Maxwell's equations. These equations show that a time-varying magnetic field creates an electric field, and conversely, a time-varying electric field creates a magnetic field. The equations can be solved to derive the case in which the electric fields and magnetic fields vary in such a way that each creates the other in a self-sustaining interaction. When this is done, the result is an equation of a travelling wave that moves at the speed of 1/sqrt(e0*m0) in free space. e0 and m0 are electrical properties of space called permitivity and permeability. it turns out that the speed of light in a vacuum is exactly that value. This result was the convincing proof that light was electromagnetic waves.

However, light, having energy, does have an equivalent relativistic mass because of E = mc^2. In the classical sense, the energy in light is given by the Poynting Vector E X H, where E is the electric field, H is the magnetic field, and X is the vector cross-product.

Answer 3

Remember E=mc^2,
energy is mass and mass is energy.
Also photons travel the speed of light. at the speed of light, the photon does not age.
Remember as you approach the speed of light, time around you speeds up almost exponentially.
IF you were to travel close to the speed of light say for a trip to the edge of the Galaxy and back, and it took you a month, you would have arrived on earth many thousands or even millions of years later. the faster you go the faster time speeds up around you, or inversely your time greatly slows down, with respect to us on earth, but you would not notice this effect on you.
same with a photon, its time is so slow, it's time is virtually a dead stop. a photon does not age.

lets look at that calculation again e= mc^2 the mass of a photon is virtually nothing ( infinitely small), so a little bit of energy is required to fire the photon.

We still don't know what magnetism, or gravity
Electromagnetic waves are photons, but what is a photon.
since e=mc^2 maybe the photon has two states and goes back and forth between energy and mass, or is a little of both.
that's how photon can behave as a wave and also a particle.

maybe you will be the one to discover this, keep asking questions

Answer 4

Light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles a second or 700 million miles an hour. For scale, the distance from the Earth to the Moon is about 239,000 miles. This seems pretty fast and indeed theory says that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.

The speed of light = 299 792 458 m / s

Answer 5

Electromagnetic radition, like all forms of light, is made up of photons. Photons are THEORETICAL particles that act like matter in some way but are trasnmitted as energy. It may help the think of photons as the left over side effects of energy and its confluence with matter. Nothing is perfect about our understanding of this, but light travels so fast because it is not made of matter, the closest thing to matter associated with it are the photons, but they do not act like true matter in the sense of other subatomic particles.

Answer 6

Electromagnetic energy is not mass.

Electrical energy (older term) or electromagnetic energy (more accurate term) is a form of potential energy present in any electric field, electric current based magnetic field, or in any volume containing electromagnetic radiation. The SI unit of electrical energy is the joule, while the unit used by electrical utility companies is the watt-hour (W·h) or the kilowatt-hour (kW·h).

Electrical energy is related to the position of an electric charge in an electric field. The electrical energy of a charge Q situated at the electric potential V is equal to the product QV. If V is a potential difference, the same expression gives the energy transformed when the charge moves through the potential difference. The electrical energy is the integral of the power over time:


where p(t) is the instantaneous power, v(t) is the voltage over time, and i(t) is the current over time. For DC, this simplifies to:


Electrical energy is also identical to the electromagnetic fields surrounding a transmission line, the fields contained in capacitors and inductors, or the fields propagating in space as electromagnetic radiation.

The name of the topic covering production, distribution, and use of electrical energy is electric power. The term electric power is frequently misused as an alternate name for electrical energy. Yet energy and power are two different things. In other words, the phrase "flow of power," and the phrase "consume a quantity of electric power" are both incorrect and should be changed to "flow of energy" and "consume a quantity of electrical energy", respectively.

Based on quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, the photon (from Greek φως, "phōs", meaning light) is the quantum of the quantized electromagnetic field (light). That is to say, quantized electromagnetic fields are made up of large numbers of photons, and the electromagnetic interaction is mediated by the exchange of virtual photons. The term photon was coined by Gilbert N. Lewis in 1926 and soon became the name for Albert Einstein's "light particle" proposed in 1905.

The photon is one of the elementary particles. Based on the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) its interactions with electrons and atomic nuclei account for a great many of the physical properties of matter, such as the existence and stability of atoms, molecules, and solids.

In many circumstances, a photon acts as a particle, for instance when registered by the light-sensitive device in a camera. In other circumstances, a photon acts like a wave, as when passing through the optics in a camera. According to the wave-particle duality of quantum physics, it is natural for the photon to display either aspect of its natures, according to circumstances. Normally, a beam of light is composed of a large number of photons, with the intensity related to the number of them. At low intensity, it requires very sensitive instruments, used in astronomy or spectroscopy, for instance, to detect the individual photons.

Some say a photon "sometimes acts like a wave and sometimes acts like a particle". This is slightly misleading, because a photon always acts like both. For example, when shooting single photons through a slit, a detector can detect each photon when it hits—but over time, the detector will detect the same diffraction pattern as it would if the photons were given off all in one burst.

Answer 7

well, light only travels at 300000000 m/s in a vaccuam, or in other words, outer space, meaning there's no friction to slow it down. So all it needs is a big push, and it'll keep going on and on. but if it's not in a vaccuam, then i'm afraid i don't know what happens

Answer 8

Light does not consist of ordinary matter, all its matter is active, in other words, active energy. And yes, light has no rest mas

light is not made of matter, it is made of particles of energy called photons.

Answer 9

Light does not consist of ordinary matter, all its matter is active, in other words, active energy. And yes, light has no rest mass.

Answer 10

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the
light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
* * *
Why the quantum of light has such magic,
constant speed of motion с = 1 ?
* * *
On the planet of Earth there is the law - that every newborn cries,
and each nestling in order to be born must break the shell of the egg.
His new life starts with this moment.
In Kingdom of eternal cold / Vacuum / there is its law :
each quantum of light for its birth should make internal impulse h = 1
and then it gains constant speed of motion с = 1.
His new life starts with this moment.
===================================
Why the quantum of light has not such “magic “
constant : mass of rest equal to zero m = 0 ?
* * *
According to quantum theory, the particle's mass increases at approaching
to the speed of light quantum.
And at achievement of this speed, the particle's mass becomes infinite.
But the quantum of light is real particle and its mass is particular and not infinite.
How to leave this contradiction?
And the scientists invented an artful way: the quantum
does not possess the mass of rest and it is always in motion.
All other material particles have the mass of rest and
only quantum of light has a privileged position.
Why?
May be it so differs from material particles, that it is not material, is it?
And if it is not material, what is it?
It is written in the Bible:
«And God said: let there be light, and there was light.
And God saw the light and that it was good».
However, the Scientist interfered with the God's business and added:
« But let the quantum of light not possess the mass of rest and let it move eternally.
And who will doubt, let him be betrayed to anathema and fire! ».
Yes! It is difficult to be quantum of light.
All particles have mass of rest, and it does not.
All particles can have a rest, lie down, have a sleep.
And it, poor, does not have a second of rest, all the time in motion.
For what sins, I ask.
And as though God is pleased with it and praises it.
Only evidently, the quantum of light did not please the Scientist
with something, and he is angry about it and without pity runs it in the world.
God, save and protect me from such mentality.
=======================
Quantum of light is a privileged particle.
Only the speed of a light quantum in Vacuum has
a maximal, constant, absolute quantity of c=1.
No other particle can travel with the speed c = 1.
If quantum of light flies always rectilinearly c=1, it is a mad one.
Is he really mad?
No.
In Vacuum, in a condition of rest its internal impulse is equal to zero h=0.
But Quantum of Light has two kinds of internal impulse.
1)Under one internal impulse (Planck,s spin h =1)
a quantum of light flies rectilinearly with speed (c = 1).
A quantum of light behaves as a particle.
2) Under other internal impulse (Goudsmit-Uhlenbeck's spin ħ = h / 2pi)
a quantum of light rotates around of his diameter and is known as electron.
A quantum of light behaves as a wave.
Very strange particle is quantum of light.
Quantum of light stays in Vacuum and on it nobody and nothing renders influence.
It is independent and makes a decision in which of three conditions it occurs.
1. In a condition of rest its internal impulse is equal to zero h=0.
2 .In a condition of uniform rectilinear movement its impulse h=1.
3. In a condition of rotation around of his diameter its impulse ћ =h/2π.
So it can work only with particle that has his own consciousness.
They are alive, spiritual particles.
His own consciousness is not static but can develop.
The development of conscious scale goes " from vague wishes up to a clear thought ".
This evolution proceeds during hundred millions (billion) years.
Socratus.
http://www.socratus.com

Answer 11

einstein said, e=mc2 & then he predicted the stars in the sky would move because he knew that 2 planets would be aligning & as the light from stars passed by,it would be affected by 2 planet gravity instead of 1. light had mass affected by gravity.
the scientists of the time checked it out & WOW the stars had moved. made the einz the EINZ!
I BEEN WACHING PROGRAMS ON "STRING THEORY" LATELY" BUT I THINK MY EYES ARE STUCK CROSSED!