Can light be bent by wind?

Question

I was just wondering about this. I mean light is particles reacting with other particles right? If those reacted particles were moved by wind, then shouldn't this be true?

Hmmmmm..... I just thought of this! Thanks!

Answer 1

Yes - refraction fringes above hot objects, mirages Mostly by varying refractive index). The medium moves and light within it is translated with it. Consider a smooth stream of water in which light is being totally internally reflected.

Answer 2

Light can be bent by diffraction as it moves from one medium to another with a different index of refraction. However, this is a wave phenomenon, not a particle phenomenon. Nobody really knows what light IS. Sometimes it ACTS like a wave and sometimes like a particle. The particle interactions are on the sub-atomic level, though, such as the photo-electric effect or electron scattering. Wind is not a quantum phenomenon. Except for Solar Wind.

Answer 3

I understand what Uncle Al is saying about the internal reflection. You could also have light traveling within a fiber optic wire, and the wire could be bent by the wind. Still, as someone else pointed out, this would not be particle behavior.

Answer 4

Light is not made of particles and it can't be bent by wind.

Answer 5

Light is massless particles. It is affected by going through air, but whether there is wind or not is irrelevant. Dust in that wind will block light, but not bend it.

Answer 6

Wow, very cool!

Yes, they can, but to such a small amount, that it will be very difficult to be measured.

How?

Wind causes a small variation in the index of refraction, which is a measure of the speed of light vs. a vacuum.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_refraction

Wind changes the density of the air.

Answer 7

wind knocks over a light pole that falls into swimming pool and the light gets bent when hitting the surface. YES

Answer 8

no, but it can be refracted by the air and scattered by other particles dissolved in it.

Answer 9

No...