On 5/13/19 2:12 PM, \0xDynamite wrote:
On 5/12/19 9:59 PM, \0xDynamite wrote:
Sorry for this little diversion, If light travels at a. different speed for different colors in order to account for the rainbow of a prism, how fast is the. speed of light then?
The speed of light is a physical constant. The frequency (or wavelength) of a photon determines its energy and therefore, to the human eye, its color.
If light's speed is a physical constant, then light wouldn't separate into colors within a prism.
Because light's speed is a physical constant, light separates into colors when passing through a prism. The higher the frequency of a photon, the higher its energy. Since more energetic photons can not speed up, and less energetic photons can not slow down, they behave AS IF they had more or less 'mass.' Higher and lower energy photons deflect slightly more or less when forced to change direction in a refractive medium, in a way analogous to heavier and lighter moving objects acted on by, for instance, the wind... :o)