The journey of light (A Possible Hypothesis)

[Little Bang]

Tormod you are right, the cosmos does work just fine for propagating light waves so I guess there is no need for me to try to understand how they do it. When everyone thought the earth was the center of the universe we should have stuck with that idea also?

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by Little Bang

Tormod you are right, the cosmos does work just fine for propagating light waves so I guess there is no need for me to try to understand how they do it.

No need for mocking. The propagation of electromagnetism is a property of space-time as we understand it. The "how" is what cosmologists study.

When everyone thought the earth was the center of the universe we should have stuck with that idea also?

Excellent example of a strawman argument. That the Earth is round was easily proven by the Greeks who observed the shade of poles at various latitudes.

Flat Earth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So, rather than play the condescending card, perhaps you should try to look up sources to find that how electromagnetic waves propagate was understood a long time ago.

Electromagnetic Waves

[Little Bang]

Forgive me Tormod, but your argument is totally lost me, sorry.

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by Little Bang

Forgive me Tormod, but your argument is totally lost me, sorry.

Which part of it? The "how" or the "please don't be condescending" bit?

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Little Bang

We need some sort of medium for electromagnetic radiation to propagate.

Though true of many pure wave effects, such as (longitudinal) sound, or (transverse) ocean waves, require a medium, such as air or a body of water, modern physics (specifically, particle physics and relativity) explicitly reject this assertion for EM radiation, or any other dual-nature (wave/particle) particle.

Though a tempting hypothesis, I can see several serious problems with the idea that light propagates through the medium of the collective magnetic fields generated by the universe’s charged particles

• According to the best experimentally supported theory (the standard model of particle physics), magnetic fields and light are due to the same particle: the photon. Like all bosons, photons don’t interact. The hypothesis that photons of one specific range of wavelengths (light, for example) require ones of another (magnetic force, for example) to exist (for their wave function to have a non-zero value) in a particular volume of space doesn’t make sense according to this very well-validated theory.
• Setting aside for the moment the standard model, if light interacts with magnetic fields, I’d expect some evidence of a change in its behavior in different magnetic fields. However, good, very precise experimental data show no evidence that light changes speed or direction due to the effects of magnetic fields of many strengths and directions.
• In principle (conventional quantum physics, again), it’s possible to arrange matter to build a Faraday cage in which there is no magnetic field. However, light appears to behave normally inside a Faraday cage.
• Though practically untestable, there appears to be no theoretical objections to a universe consisting of a single electron and a single positron in which these 2 oposite-charge particles collide and anhilate to produce 2 or more photons in the gamma ray band of the EM spectrum. This universe would then contain no fermions, so could emit no bosons, including magnetic force photons, yet would still contain 2 photons of gamma ray “light”, despite the complete absence of any magnetic fields anywhere.

[Uclock]

CraigD

Very well explained and it shows a good understanding of physics so I am a little surprised you have no comments on TR.

Tony

[Little Bang]

(Like all bosons, photons don’t interact.) Craig your saying that photons don't interact with electrons?

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Little Bang

(Like all bosons, photons don’t interact.) Craig your saying that photons don't interact with electrons?

No. Bosons (photons, gluons, Ws, Zs, and the as yet-unobserved Higgs) don’t interact with each other. Specific ones interact with specific fermions (up, down, strange, charm, bottom and top quarks, electrons, muons, and tau leptons, electron, muon, and tau neutrinos, and their antiparticles).

So quarks in protons and neutrons and electrons interact with photons, but photons don’t interact with one another, etc.

A basic understanding of the standard model is not difficult to obtain, and helpful in discussions of it. the poster is, IMHO, one of the best study guides for it.

[Little Bang]

Your right Craig, it was rather silly of me to suggest there might be something wrong with the standard model since it obviously answers all the questions about the universe.

[Tormod]

Originally Posted by Little Bang

Your right Craig, it was rather silly of me to suggest there might be something wrong with the standard model since it obviously answers all the questions about the universe.

Mocking and ridicule is plain silly. You ask questions and get replies. Why keep aiming for the player if you want to kick the ball?