Quote:
Originally Posted by Little Bang
If there have been experiments that confirm magnetic fields have no effect what so ever on light please point them out. Since EMR has both electric and magnetic components how do we know that a magnet field doesn't cause something like rotation of the wave?
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light is an alternating electromagnetic field, and when you have 2 light waves in the same spot you get constructive or destructive interference. if light was affected by electromagnetic fields, it would show very clearly in such experiments. the rules of physics are that fields generate forces and forces move objects, but fields do not move fields, they just interfere with fields that are similar. usually fields are generated by objects (particles with mass) like magnets and electrons and then, if you move the object, you move the field that is generated by that object, but light has no (rest)mass and cannot be accelerated.
the experiments you are talking about have been done in mechanics, and it has been discovered that moving an object with rest mass requires a force, which a massless object cannot be moved as such, it will always go in a straight line and have the same polar plane. one exception to that is gravity, since according to general relativity, space itself is curved and therefore a "straight line" is not really straight when it goes through such a curve.
