Question about light

[Illiad]

if time stops for a photon in a vacuum moving at the speed of light, then will any energy/mass that the said photon carries with it will be stuck at that point of time too? If so, are we always losing energy since creation?

[Boerseun]

Time does not "stop" for a photon, it never existed for it to begin with. And, there is no energy "travelling with" a photon, the photon is the energy.

 

The energy "carried with" light in the form of a photon, or a quantum of energy, experiences no time. But if it hits an object that's existing in a different frame of reference (i.e. slower than the speed of light) then that energy is transferred to the object and is thus not lost.

 

Imagine a lamp. It emits energy in the form of light. Hold your hand close to the lamp. The photons/energy quanta leaving the lamp at c travels between the lamp and your hand without being aware of time passing. Time does not exist for those little photons. But the energy they contain is ultimately transferred to your hand. You experience this as feeling heat from the lamp.

 

All a photon wants is something to strike, somewhere. And some of them have been waiting (without being aware of it, of course - they don't experience time :hihi:) for more than 15 billion years already! But nowhere is any energy lost in any way, shape or form.

[Illiad]

Of course!

what a silly question i had asked..

thanks for the explanation boerseun :hihi:

[Little Bang]

Illiad, I would point to this, http://hypography.com/forums/strange-claims-forum/22596-photon-creation.html

[Boerseun]

thanks for the explanation boerseun :naughty:

Glad I could have been of service! And welcome to Hypo, by the way! :xparty: