4 ms·
Interesting. I never questioned this but I also never tried to prove it. I wonder how this all started, and how it became commonly accepted as a truth.
by benbeltran 18y ago
Interesting. I never questioned this but I also never tried to prove it. I wonder how this all started, and how it became commonly accepted as a truth.
- silentbicycle 18y agoWhen something works as an approachable example for a (potentially) difficult concept, it tends to get spread around, regardless of whether it's actually true or not. Similarly, the Inuit don't actually have several words for snow. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_words_for_snow)
- extension 18y agoand light doesn't travel in a straight line (it radiates in all directions) I only found about that one recently
- hhm 18y agoPhotons radiate in all directions, but doesn't every photon go in a straight line?
- benbeltran 18y agoI thought nothing went in a straight line and everything moved in a wave-like motion.
- hhm 18y agoI don't think the wave is related to 3d movement in the case of light... it's not that the photon is going up and down all the time. I think this explaination is right: "In electromagnetic wave, it is the electric and magnetic field vector (or amplitude) that is oscillating." (not the position) from here: http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-186751.html http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/index.php/t-186751.html
- extension 18y agoAs I understand it, photons can meander in any direction at any time but due to the way probabilities cancel each other out, they tend to move in a straight line when not in the vicinity of other particles. However, because EM diffraction is observable at macroscopic scales, the "straight line" thing really is confusing. Growing up, I always wondered how radio waves transmitted through walls and assumed they just went through them when in fact they go around.
- hhm 18y agoOh, that's really interesting... I didn't know that (I know very little about physics, I'm more of the mathematician kind).
- DaniFong 18y agoAnnoyingly, before me and my cofounder were hung up on precisely this question. We said "I know we've heard this a lot, but I can't think of any natural reason why the golden ratio would be favored in nature." We thought for a while, and gave up. We should have just looked at the data. stupid, stupid, stupid...