if the sped of light in the sunout to the suface is about as fast as my nails grow what suddenly propells it to the real speed of light when it reaches the suface? Why does it not gain speed gradually as it eascapes the suns gravity?
2007-08-16 16:46:39 · 5 answers · asked by ? 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Moose boys is right. A quanta of electromagnetic radiation, or photon, moves at c. It just takes many short trips instead of a direct path out. When trying to break free from the interior of the sun, it's path is so convoluted and it gets absorbed and re-emitted so many times, that to get from point A [where it results from hydrogen atoms being fused into a helium atom a la E=mc^2] to point B [the surface of the Sun], it takes a very very very long time.
2007-08-16 17:49:17 · answer #1 · answered by quntmphys238 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When light particles pass through a medium other than the vaccum of space, their speed is slowed. It is possible for something to pass the speed of light, if say, they were both shot through a tank of water, because the speed of of light would actually be lower in that fluid. The sun is a fluid, and the fluid is so greatly compressed that the speed of light is slowed greatly. The light particles do increae in speed as they reach the surface of the sun though, and once they hit the vastness of space they are back at their regular speed, c.
2007-08-17 01:22:07 · answer #2 · answered by sovietwarhawk 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The reason a photon of light, born in the inner core, takes millions of years to reach the surface isn't because it's moving slower. It's so dense that the photon doesn't have a clear path and is constantly hitting other particals, often bouncing back or to the side. Its actual speed of movement is the same.
2007-08-16 23:56:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The speed of light inside the sun is still c. The difference is that any emitted photons are almost instantly re-absorbed by other electrons, bumping them to higher energy levels. When people say that light inside the sun travels as fast as your nails grow, what they mean is that if you traced out the path of a single photon, emission, absorption, re-emission, absorption... along a random path to the surface of the sun, it's net velocity would be that slow. It's velocity between emission and absorption, however, is still c.
2007-08-16 23:51:19 · answer #4 · answered by MooseBoys 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Speed of light inside the sun would be lower while it is 3*10^8 meters/sec in free spase
2007-08-16 23:57:05 · answer #5 · answered by JAMES 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋