this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
917 points (98.5% liked)

Science Memes

10348 readers
1582 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

thats the thing, thats from your reference frame. From the photons perspective time stands still and everything happens at once

[–] Liz@midwest.social 2 points 1 month ago

Well, yes. Sorry, I thought the claim was that photons move at infinite speed, relative to a stationary observer.

[–] Aermis@lemmy.world 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But that also doesn't translate. If the moment the photon is created (from whatever reaction that caused the light source), to the moment it hit the person's eyes had no time pass (nothing in the universe moved) then it would be instantly created and observed by the observer. But the moment the switch turns on and the moment the photon hits the observer (as miniscule as this distance is) the eye of the observer has moved from A: switch goes on to B: observed.

Yeah no time passes for the photon I guess, but the universe still moved around the photons travel.

[–] FiskFisk33@startrek.website 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Let's preface this, I'm no astrophysicist. but from my understanding:

That's just the thing, different speed observers do not agree on when things happen, or even the shape of the universe. The faster you go the more the universe compresses in front of you, making distances shorter from your frame of reference.

From the photons perspective it instantly moves through an infinitesimally thin sheet of universe. Everything that "happens around it" from our frame of reference all instantly happens at once if you ask the photon.

Here's a really good explanation from someone far smarter than me https://youtu.be/-NN_m2yKAAk