How far can light travel before it goes dark?

Question

How long can light hold its shine? Forever?

What about a laser light? In a free space vacuum?

Oops, to add a thing, I believe light is made of photons, vibrating I believe, in a frequency we cannot see.

I know light has been tracked through billions of light years away, but does anything ever slow the oscillations and therefore shine of the light while traveling?

Or is there basically nothing to stop it in free space?

What I mean is, things decay here, but is there such a thing as light decay?

Can a photon in outer space vacuum ever transmutate into a lower frequency in the absence of things to slam into, due to decay?

What causes decay in other things, but not "seemingly" in light?

Ummm, too, how does light give off energy from the sides of a beam that we see, without losing energy. To see light, some of it has to be reflecting back into our eyes.

So how do we see a beam that is in a straight line, horizontal to our field of vision, if the light isn't headed in a path towards our eyes?

Doesn't this energy from the side lessen the strength of the beam? Can light give off light forever without getting dimmer? If it can, wouldn't that be a kind of perpetual energy machine?

Answer 1

Yes the oscillation of light does get less as it get farther away. That's why it get redder. The oscillation or wavelength of light gets redder but never stops oscilating entirely. We can still "see" in infrared telescopes the oscillation of the light from the big bang. It's so red because it is 15 billion years old but it still has some oscillation that causes its heat to be 3º above absolute zero. It will continue to oscillate less and less as time goes on but nothing can ever disappear by being at absolute zero.

Answer 2

Q1- “HOW LONG CAN LIGHT HOLD ITS SHINE? FOREVER?”
Yes, light can travel forever if nothing stops it. There’s no such a thing as decay.
Q2. "WHAT ABOUT A LASER LIGHT? IN A FREE SPACE VACUUM?"
In total vacuum, since there are no molecules, light cannot be absorbed. Be it from a laser, a candle or a bulb.
Q3- “I BELIEVE LIGHT IS MADE OF PHOTONS, VIBRATING I BELIEVE, IN A FREQUENCY WE CANNOT SEE”.
You can see a small part of the total spectrum of light. Most electromagnetic radiation is in the form of radio waves, X ray, Gamma rays, microwaves and ultraviolet. All these can be considered a form of light.
Q4.- “DOES ANYTHING EVER SLOW THE OSCILLATIONS AND THEREFORE SHINE OF THE LIGHT WHILE TRAVELING?”
No. You can slow the speed of light in a medium, but not its frequency.
Q5.- “OR IS THERE BASICALLY NOTHING TO STOP IT IN FREE SPACE?”
Interstellar dust, hydrogen gas, carbon dioxide... anything in space can stop light. The space is not a vacuum. There are molecules here and there. And most of the radiation by far away stars is stopped, absorbed or deviated by these obstacles. When this happens, wavelength changes (it's energy changes).
Q6.-“CAN A PHOTON IN OUTER SPACE VACUUM EVER TRANSMUTATE INTO A LOWER FREQUENCY IN THE ABSENCE OF THINGS TO SLAM INTO, DUE TO DECAY?”
No.
Q7.- “WHAT CAUSES DECAY IN OTHER THINGS, BUT NOT 'SEEMINGLY' IN LIGHT?”
Light INTENSITY decays with distance, because some rays in the beam are refracted, diffracted, reflected or absorbed. But not frequency nor wavelength. Since a laser beam is more intense than natural light, it´s intensity won´t be so easily diminished by dust; but being a single wavelength, could be easily absorbed by some elements.

Redshift has nothing to do with decay.

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Do we get 20 points for questions like these?


Q8.- “ TO SEE LIGHT, SOME OF IT HAS TO BE REFLECTING BACK INTO OUR EYES.”
Right.
Q9.- SO HOW DO WE SEE A BEAM THAT IS IN A STRAIGHT LINE, HORIZONTAL TO OUR FIELD OF VISION, IF THE LIGHT ISN'T HEADED IN A PATH TOWARDS OUR EYES?
Well, you don´t.
In order to see a laser beam that is perpendicular to your sight line, you have to deviate some photons towards your retina. For instance, with dust, flour, vapor...
Q10.-“DOESN'T THIS ENERGY FROM THE SIDE LESSEN THE STRENGTH OF THE BEAM?”
Why do you say “side”? do you deviate a river only in the “side”? Photons in the middle of the beam can be deviated.
Q11.-“CAN LIGHT GIVE OFF LIGHT FOREVER WITHOUT GETTING DIMMER”
Intensity… intensity… intensity. A fraction of the beam… Behind a photon comes another…

Post another one. Go. I dare you! And please, make sure you ask more than 30 questions in the same post. Why just one or two as everybody else? Be different, yeah!
Have fun.

Answer 3

This is a perfect example of why you should not look for information on Yahoo!Answers. Your question demonstrates a lot of confusion and misinformation, and most of the answers are wrong, and also demonstrate a lot of confusion.

That is why you should look up the information you need for yourself, or ask your science teacher. Don't trust the people who post answers on here.

Light is defined as a stream of photons. Photons are constant-energy particles and do not ever have either more or less energy than at any other time; that is, photons are always equally light, and do not go dark.

And the red shift is not a result of photons losing energy, or "oscillations." The red shift occurs because of the doppler effect, which alters the frequency of wave energy emitted or reflected by moving objects.

Try an internet search on "doppler effect," or "red shift," or "nature of light."

Answer 4

depends on the light, you describe visible light, the wavelength of light determines how far it will go...look at the electromagnetic spectrum, the wavelengths of UV and beyond travel farther, unless acted upon by an external obstacle, like a planet or other solid body, and furthermore, space is NOT a total vacuum, there are atoms and gaseous molecules cruising about all over the place.

Answer 5

It will lose it's intensity, even if a patch of the night sky looks black to you. light is still present. dark is relative I would say more like dim.

As for a laser different dynamics, it's amplified, but being focused and only transmitted in one wavelength. Makes it is to be manipulated, Blocked, absorbed or filtered easily.

And the frequency changing, is only if the source is moving toward you or away known as doppler sffect.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Like all things, they travel forever unless there's something to slow them down or stop them.

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second - a light year is how far it travels in a year at that speed.

We are still looking at galaxies and stars from billions of years ago, so clearly light continues without stoppage.

Nothing to stop it, it keeps on going.

Answer 8

I don't think I have seen such a collection of stupidity before. May the light shine upon all of you.

A shine is something seen when reflectec off another object.
Light goes on until it is stopped. Well it stopped in my telescope, but the guy next to me saw it too, so I guess it really didn't stop, or maybe it reflected back out of the telescope.

Do we really know if light is the absence of dark, or is dark the absence of light, or is that just the measurable light or dark.
How do I measure darkness, by measuring light and turning it upside down? How do I know if my measuring device is measuring an absolute quantity, or an estimated quantity based on my limited measuring capability?

Answer 9

There seems to be no actual limit to how far it can go.
Many things could stop it or absorb it it's limit could be the limit of space.

Answer 10

Light doesn't go dark. Dark is the absence of light.