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How can light (or electromagnetic radiation) travel through a vacuum when there is nothing there to act as a medium, and do so forever in all directions? For example the light coming from a star millions of light years away. Light is observed as traveling at velocity v=c, according to the second postulate of special relativity. But according to ...
Jul 26, 2011 · In summary: Thanks for helping me understand this.In summary, light travels between a magnetic field and electric field at 90 degrees to each other. This oscillation propagates according to Maxwell's equations. A vacuum means devoid of mass and this is why there is an electromagnetic field present in vacuum.
- Theory of Light to The 19th Century
- Double-Slit Experiment
- Electromagnetism and Special Relativity
- Einstein and The Photon
- Wave-Particle Duality
During the Scientific Revolution, scientists began moving away from Aristotelian scientific theories that had been seen as accepted canon for centuries. This included rejecting Aristotle’s theory of light, which viewed it as being a disturbance in the air (one of his four “elements” that composed matter), and embracing the more mechanistic view tha...
By the early 19th century, scientists began to break with corpuscular theory. This was due in part to the fact that corpuscular theory failed to adequately explain the diffraction, interference and polarization of light, but was also because of various experiments that seemed to confirm the still-competing view that light behaved as a wave. The mos...
Prior to the 19th and 20th centuries, the speed of light had already been determined. The first recorded measurements were performed by Danish astronomer Ole Rømer, who demonstrated in 1676 using light measurements from Jupiter’s moon Io to show that light travels at a finite speed (rather than instantaneously). By the late 19th century, James Cler...
In 1905, Einstein also helped to resolve a great deal of confusion surrounding the behavior of electromagnetic radiation when he proposed that electrons are emitted from atoms when they absorb energy from light. Known as the photoelectric effect, Einstein based his idea on Planck’s earlier work with “black bodies” – materials that absorb electromag...
Subsequent theories on the behavior of light would further refine this idea, which included French physicist Louis-Victor de Broglie calculating the wavelength at which light functioned. This was followed by Heisenberg’s “uncertainty principle” (which stated that measuring the position of a photon accurately would disturb measurements of it momentu...
Apr 16, 2005 · 1,016. 0. In a vacuum, light travels as an electromagnetic wave. This means that it is made up of electric and magnetic fields that are perpendicular to each other and to the direction of travel. These fields do not require a medium to propagate and can travel through empty space. The misconception that light travels as a wave through a medium ...
In contrast, light waves can travel through a vacuum, and do not require a medium. In empty space, the wave does not dissipate (grow smaller) no matter how far it travels, because the wave is not interacting with anything else. This is why light from distant stars can travel through space for billions of light-years and still reach us on earth.
May 20, 2016 · So how does light travel? Basically, traveling at incredible speeds (299 792 458 m/s) and at different wavelengths, depending on its energy. It also behaves as both a wave and a particle, able to ...
People also ask
Does light travel through a vacuum at 90 degrees?
Can a light wave travel through a vacuum?
Can light travel through a vacuum without a medium?
How fast does light travel in a vacuum?
Does light slow down when it travels through a vacuum?
Is light a vacuum?
It travels as a transverse wave. Unlike a sound waves, light waves do not need a medium to pass through, they can travel through a vacuum. Light from the Sun reaches Earth through the vacuum of space.
