Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonthegreat
After reading up on the [I]extensive[I] information posted specifically on a design for a 'light accelerator' that was plaguing my head, I have a question.
Understanding that light waves cannot be affected by EM or EMR (as photons have neither charge nor resting mass) and that fields cannot be 'bent' by other fields I have arrived at my next proposal.
What about the field interference on an oscillating, polarized, and accelerated fashion with staggered strengths of interference? Would, in effect, the field itself be accelerated?
As light travels through such an accelerated field, is it possible to accelerate such motion beyond the constants of light?
Perhaps I am grasping at straws here...
PS... This is not referring to the above rotating situation, rather linear acceleration. Also the medium would be of the gaseous type. The threads I was attempting to comment on also seemed to disappear after posting. This is more under the umbrella, DOES light bend under the effects of magnetism.
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According to Einstein, the speed of light in vacuum is constant and never changes. If anyone where to discover an experiment that demonstrates otherwise, the theory of relativity will fall apart. BUT that does not mean that you can't get light move slower, or for something to like it's moving faster then the speed of light. if you shine a light through a transparent material (say glass) it will look like it's traveling at a slower speed, but that is only because the light photons are absorbed and then re-emitted by the glass. the phtons of light coming out of the glass are not the same ones that entered the glass. According to
wikipedia scientists have managed to completely halt light
boze-einstein condensate. I don't fully understand that phenomenon but I think that it is quite amazing !!!
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If you wish to make something move faster then the speed of light using interference patterns, I don't see why it won't work. And I will elaborate;
Let’s say that Johnny has a strong laser torch and he is pointing it on a very distant object. On that object, you will get a dot of light from the laser beam. now if Johnny where to move the laser torch fast enough, that dot will move faster then the speed of light, since the laser only has to move a couple centimeters in order for the dot to move thousands of meters. but for both dots to be illuminated it will require for the light to travel from the laser to the distant planet. The light can reach the second dot within a tiny fraction of a second (say 1/300,000,000 of a second, approximately the time it takes light to travel one meter) of reaching the first dot, and the dots can be thousands of meters away from each other.
The key thing to note is that nothing actually moves from dot A to dot B, rather, light is moving from the laser to both dots. And I see no reason that this cannot be done with interference patterns so that within an area that is illuminated by lasers, you will have a dark spot (due to interference) that 'moves' faster then the speed of light.
