MadSci Network: Physics |
Noel, the simplest way to tell you how light is accelerated is to state that it really isn't. Light is electromagnetic energy and, as far as anybody knows, it moves at the speed of -- well -- light, independent of what frame of reference it's observed in. It doesn't matter whether it's laser light or light from a lamp or from the sun. And it doesn't matter whether it's looked at as electromagnetic waves or a collection of photon particles -- it's all the same and moves at about 186,000 miles per second, or about 300,000 kilometers per second. The different colors of light all move at the same speed, but just differ in their wavelength (or frequency, which is proportional to the inverse of the wavelength). Hope this helps! Steve Guch
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