Doesnt light have to follow the field of gravity because its a mass and mass interact with each other?
2006-09-23 12:45:31 · 2 answers · asked by goring 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
No. General Relativity states that gravity curves space and time itself. One of the main experiments proving general relativity was one that demonstrated that light from distant stars followed a curved path near the sun.
2006-09-23 13:56:40 · answer #1 · answered by Id Rather Be Drunk 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, light has to travel in a 'straight' line. But 'straight' (in the 4 dimensional space-time sense) doesn't always equal 'straight' in the 3 dimensional sense.
A straight line is the shortest distance between 2 points. Which also means that, at a constant velocity, it's the 'fastest' time. But in traveling through a region with a 'time gradient' (such as that caused by a gravitational acceleration) this distance can be a curve when projected onto a 3 dimensional space.
Doug
2006-09-23 19:53:22 · answer #2 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋