Science Memes

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submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 10 months ago (33 children)

Does a photon actually accelerate? Sure seems like it always goes at light speed through whatever medium from its creation.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago (4 children)

well, if it get reflected and change direction it going to be at light speed, so it can be interpreted (probably incorrectly lol) that it "accelerated instantly to the other direction after the reflection"?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

This is an interesting question. Instant acceleration is mathematically implausible, but I don't know if there's a better physical interpretation for what happens to a bouncing photon. I'm guessing this is one of those "less particle, more wave" situations where the instantaneous velocity of the photon is undefined.

According to some random internet sources, reflection is the not-quite-instantaneous process of the photon being absorbed and then emitted by the electrons in the mirror.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

As a rule, it’s probably best to avoid “random” internet sources on matters of how light works because there’s so much confidently parroted misinformation out there. For example, this is completely wrong: https://youtu.be/FAivtXJOsiI See here for correct answers to that issue: https://youtu.be/CiHN0ZWE5bk

For how mirrors work see this: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-physical-proc/ https://youtu.be/rYLzxcU6ROM

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