Probably some very stupid questions…

[The Sage of Main Street]

I just wrote this up I hope it helps.

Relativistic energy and momentum[edit]​

See also: Photon energy and Special relativity
The cone shows possible values of wave 4-vector of a photon. The "time" axis gives the angular frequency (rad⋅s−1) and the "space" axis represents the angular wavenumber (rad⋅m−1). Green and indigo represent left and right polarization
In empty space, the photon moves at c (the speed of light) and its energy and momentum are related by E = pc, where p is the magnitude of the momentum vector p. This derives from the following relativistic relation, with m = 0:[24]

�2=�2�2+�2�4 .

The energy and momentum of a photon depend only on its frequency (�

) or inversely, its wavelength (λ):

�=ℏ�=ℎ�=ℎ��

�=ℏ� ,

where k is the wave vector, where

• k ≡ |k| =  2π /λ   is the wave number, and
• ω ≡ 2 πν   is the angular frequency, and
• ħ ≡ h/ 2π    is the reduced Planck constant.[25]

Since �

points in the direction of the photon's propagation, the magnitude of its momentum is

�≡|�|=ℏ�=ℎ��=ℎ� .

Freeze a Rainbow, and You Get a Jagged Edge

If the photon moves in a wave and not a straight line, it can't move at its maximum velocity. Different color photons move on waves of different lengths, so they must not all arrive at the same time. But the difference is so small they appear to all come out together as white light.

There actual potential is c², but space is a substance that slows them down.

 

[Rawley]

…but I’m gonna ask them, because that’s how I roll. These are some things that rattle around in my head, and remember “there is no such thing as a stupid question”, right? That’s what they always told me!

Ok, so, first up….

Do all photons move at the same speed? Can some photons move at different speeds or are all photons moving at the same speed? What causes them to have speed? What is their mechanism of propulsion? In other words, how do they move and what keeps them going?

edit I should note, please explain in layman’s terms…VEEERY layman’s terms. I’m just a normal person with some odd questions that I’d like to learn about but I’m not a physicist or anything like that.

speed of light is a constant.

If you are really interested, light can has properties of both particles (photons) and waves.

Wave–particle duality - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ReinyDays]

I just wrote this up I hope it helps.

Relativistic energy and momentum[edit]​

See also: Photon energy and Special relativity
The cone shows possible values of wave 4-vector of a photon. The "time" axis gives the angular frequency (rad⋅s−1) and the "space" axis represents the angular wavenumber (rad⋅m−1). Green and indigo represent left and right polarization
In empty space, the photon moves at c (the speed of light) and its energy and momentum are related by E = pc, where p is the magnitude of the momentum vector p. This derives from the following relativistic relation, with m = 0:[24]

�2=�2�2+�2�4 .

The energy and momentum of a photon depend only on its frequency (�

) or inversely, its wavelength (λ):

�=ℏ�=ℎ�=ℎ��

�=ℏ� ,

where k is the wave vector, where

• k ≡ |k| =  2π /λ   is the wave number, and
• ω ≡ 2 πν   is the angular frequency, and
• ħ ≡ h/ 2π    is the reduced Planck constant.[25]

Since �

points in the direction of the photon's propagation, the magnitude of its momentum is

�≡|�|=ℏ�=ℎ��=ℎ� .

Crap .. that's right ... I'm impressed ... remind me to not tease you about math ... hv/c is downright sexy the way you use it ...

 

[ReinyDays]

Bob Blaylock nailed this in Post # 12 ... c is the speed of light in a vacuum, and vacuums are impossible, so light doesn't travel the speed of light anywhere in our universe ... maybe that helps ...

Photons are massless at rest ... so we can create and destroy them willy-nilly ... all we have to account for is the energy they "contain", and I'm not sure "contained" is the right adverb here ... in some respects, the photon is energy ... in other respects it's a wave ... it's like an electron, it only exists if it's moving ... but it doesn't move unless it's being observed ...

If there's no human eye to see it ... does light exist? ... or is it as in my sig line, just seeing a photon changes it's very nature ...

"please explain in layman’s terms"

Can't be done ... sorry ... Ig's post # 7 is the simplistic explanation ... anything more will involve Quantum Mechanics ...

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

speed of light is a constant.

Only in a vacuum.

 

[ThisIsMe]

All photons move at the speed of light.
They move in a single direction unless impacted by gravity.
They will continue to move in that direction until they are absorbed or reflected.
There is no "mechanism" of propulsion.

Consider you are in space. Far from any galaxies, planets, or other bodies.
You throw a baseball
The ball is a photon
It will continue to move in the same direction at the same speed until it is impacted by some external force. Say a catcher's mitt.
When the ball hits the mitt the mitt absorbs the ball's energy. you can feel this.
When a photon strikes and object some or all of its energy is absorbed by the object.
Any remaining energy is reflected as a lower energy photon.
You will see these energy changes as different colors.

Beyond this the question cannot be answered in "layman's terms"

So, when the photon reflects from an object, it does so at a different frequency or wavelength? So the photon is converted from one of the invisible frequencies to something on the visible spectrum depending on what it bounces off of? The next question is, if the photon bounces off of a color…say blue…is it that some property of “blue” interacts with the photons that somehow changes it to travel at a different wavelength, that our eyes perceive as blue?

So, a photon travels at a certain frequency but when it reflects off of something, it reflects at a different frequency that we perceive as color.

That’s kind of interesting and it makes me think of another question lol. Does “color” exist? Think about it. Color is merely a wavelength of energy that our eyes perceive as color, right? So…what color is an apple when it’s in a pitch black room, where there is no light to reflect off of it to create that new wavelength? Is it still red? That’s kind of like when you start to dim a light, whatever object is in reach of the light starts getting darker and changing hues even, and can start to take on a more grey color and eventually the less light present, it starts to look black. This happens because less and less photons are causing reflections off of the object.

Hmm..

 

[ThisIsMe]

Look up the double split experiment.

I’ve seen a YouTube video on it. I found it interesting that the photons reacted differently when they put a camera on it, as opposed to when they took the camera away.

That makes no sense to me.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

I’ve seen a YouTube video on it. I found it interesting that the photons reacted differently when they put a camera on it, as opposed to when they took the camera away.

That makes no sense to me.

Don't worry. It doesn't make any sense to anyone.

 

[ThisIsMe]

Bob Blaylock nailed this in Post # 12 ... c is the speed of light in a vacuum, and vacuums are impossible, so light doesn't travel the speed of light anywhere in our universe ... maybe that helps ...

Photons are massless at rest ... so we can create and destroy them willy-nilly ... all we have to account for is the energy they "contain", and I'm not sure "contained" is the right adverb here ... in some respects, the photon is energy ... in other respects it's a wave ... it's like an electron, it only exists if it's moving ... but it doesn't move unless it's being observed ...

If there's no human eye to see it ... does light exist? ... or is it as in my sig line, just seeing a photon changes it's very nature ...

"please explain in layman’s terms"

Can't be done ... sorry ... Ig's post # 7 is the simplistic explanation ... anything more will involve Quantum Mechanics ...

I appreciate you trying. I understand that I’m asking questions, that, to properly explain them would be waaay beyond my capacity to understand. Perhaps it was a fools errand to think things as complex as this could be explained in simple enough terms that anyone could understand.

Still, it doesn’t stop me from wondering about this kind of stuff.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

So, when the photon reflects from an object, it does so at a different frequency or wavelength? So the photon is converted from one of the invisible frequencies to something on the visible spectrum depending on what it bounces off of? The next question is, if the photon bounces off of a color…say blue…is it that some property of “blue” interacts with the photons that somehow changes it to travel at a different wavelength, that our eyes perceive as blue?

So, a photon travels at a certain frequency but when it reflects off of something, it reflects at a different frequency that we perceive as color.

That’s kind of interesting and it makes me think of another question lol. Does “color” exist? Think about it. Color is merely a wavelength of energy that our eyes perceive as color, right? So…what color is an apple when it’s in a pitch black room, where there is no light to reflect off of it to create that new wavelength? Is it still red? That’s kind of like when you start to dim a light, whatever object is in reach of the light starts getting darker and changing hues even, and can start to take on a more grey color and eventually the less light present, it starts to look black. This happens because less and less photons are causing reflections off of the object.

Hmm..

And then there's the way that our eyes perceive color.

There is a continuous spectrum across the range of frequencies covered by visible light, tying the color that we see, to the frequency of the light.

But our eyes have only three kinds of color sensors, each sensitive primarily to what we consider to be the additive primary colors. As a result, our eyes can be made to “see” any color, that would be generated by any frequency, by feeding us a mix of red, green, and blue. If you take a close enough look at nearly any kind of electronic color display, you will see that the image consists only of red, green, and blue elements.

 

[Leo123]

I’ve seen a YouTube video on it. I found it interesting that the photons reacted differently when they put a camera on it, as opposed to when they took the camera away.

That makes no sense to me.

Exactly! I miss typed..... it's the 'double slit' experiment.

 

[ThisIsMe]

And then there's the way that our eyes perceive color.

There is a continuous spectrum across the range of frequencies covered by visible light, tying the color that we see, to the frequency of the light.

But our eyes have only three kinds of color sensors, each sensitive primarily to what we consider to be the additive primary colors. As a result, our eyes can be made to “see” any color, that would be generated by any frequency, by feeding us a mix of red, green, and blue. If you take a close enough look at nearly any kind of electronic color display, you will see that the image consists only of red, green, and blue elements.


View attachment 845024

And it’s amazing that, with only those 3 colors..we can get white…

 

[Leo123]

And it’s amazing that, with only those 3 colors..we can get white…

Yes and today, we have stage lighting that includes red/green/blue LEDs that can make white, magenta, blue, green, etc depending on which are activated. In the past we had 'cans' with high intensity bulbs and we used gel filters.

 

[ThisIsMe]

Yes and today, we have stage lighting that includes red/green/blue LEDs that can make white, magenta, blue, green, etc depending on which are activated. In the past we had 'cans' with high intensity bulbs and we used gel filters.

View attachment 845054

I’ve heard that black is the absence of color and white is actually every color mixed together, including all of the dark colors. Is that true?

 

[Bob Blaylock]

I’ve heard that black is the absence of color and white is actually every color mixed together, including all of the dark colors. Is that true?

Why are you asking us?

None of us would know what you did or did not hear. Only you could know that.

 

[Leo123]

I’ve heard that black is the absence of color and white is actually every color mixed together, including all of the dark colors. Is that true?

Red, green and blue are the main constituents of white light. Black is the absence of light.

This does not work in mixing paint or drawing with colored pencils.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Red, green and blue are the main constituents of white light. Black is the absence of light.

True white light would be a fairly even mix of all frequencies, all colors. But our eyes would not be able to distinguish that from a mix of just red, green, and blue.

This does not work in mixing paint or drawing with colored pencils.

Mixing paint is subtractive mixing, rather than additive. The subtractive primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow—the opposites of the respective additive primaries, red, green, and blue.

 

[Leo123]

True white light would be a fairly even mix of all frequencies, all colors. But our eyes would not be able to distinguish that from a mix of just red, green, and blue.



Mixing paint is subtractive mixing, rather than additive. The subtractive primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow—the opposites of the respective additive primaries, red, green, and blue.

Of course, we are talking about the frequencies our eyes can see. We don't really see infrared or ultraviolet and certainly not radio waves or vhf or uhf.

 

[Leo123]

Of course, we are talking about the frequencies our eyes can see. We don't really see infrared or ultraviolet and certainly not radio waves or vhf or uhf.

The Webb telescope sees in infra red.

 

[Dadoalex]

So, when the photon reflects from an object, it does so at a different frequency or wavelength? So the photon is converted from one of the invisible frequencies to something on the visible spectrum depending on what it bounces off of? The next question is, if the photon bounces off of a color…say blue…is it that some property of “blue” interacts with the photons that somehow changes it to travel at a different wavelength, that our eyes perceive as blue?

So, a photon travels at a certain frequency but when it reflects off of something, it reflects at a different frequency that we perceive as color.

That’s kind of interesting and it makes me think of another question lol. Does “color” exist? Think about it. Color is merely a wavelength of energy that our eyes perceive as color, right? So…what color is an apple when it’s in a pitch black room, where there is no light to reflect off of it to create that new wavelength? Is it still red? That’s kind of like when you start to dim a light, whatever object is in reach of the light starts getting darker and changing hues even, and can start to take on a more grey color and eventually the less light present, it starts to look black. This happens because less and less photons are causing reflections off of the object.

Hmm..

When a photon strikes an object some of the photon's energy is absorbed by the object. this change in state causes the photon's frequency or wavelength to change.

When you shine a flashlight on a surface the stream of photons strikes the surface. Some of the energy is absorbed by the surface. The remainder is reflected away. The color of the light you see reflected from the surface is what you call the surface's color.