2007-02-22 01:11:20 · 7 answers · asked by goring 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Photons do in general travel throughout space in straight lines. However, they are subject to being pulled somewhat off course by the gravitational fields of immense objects.
2007-02-22 09:57:48 · answer #1 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
"Matter tells space how to bend, space tells matter how to move. "
If there were no massive objects in the universe, a single photon would indeed move in a straight line; as it approached a massive object, it would still follow the shortest path ...which would now be a curve because space is BENT (warped) by the object's property of having mass (I know... but that's one way of looking at it, if you have a detector set up to measure ("count") photons and not waves).
But light follows the rules of quantum physics and should be considered as an entity that has the properties of both a wave and a particle; sometimes at the same time and sometimes depending on how you chose to measure it.
2007-02-22 17:02:54 · answer #2 · answered by stargazergurl22 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Photons can be looked at as waves, and like waves in water they bend when they are close to objects, so you can say they most of the time is traveling in straight lines, but they can be turned away nearby galaxies+++ (An example is a black hole which would "suck" the light in and never let it go due to its enormous gravitation)
2007-02-22 09:18:42 · answer #3 · answered by hakonfur 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, gravity bends space and all photons therefore travel in bent lines.
2007-02-22 09:20:13 · answer #4 · answered by Feeling Mutual 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Sure unless they're bent by gravitational lensing of large bodies.
2007-02-22 09:14:26 · answer #5 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I believe they still travel in waves...
2007-02-22 09:16:10 · answer #6 · answered by Laughing Man Copycat 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
from whose perspective?
They travel on null geodesics.
2007-02-22 09:21:48 · answer #7 · answered by Morgy 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋