But now let’s add a higher degree of complexity. What do you think would be the result in Einstein’s flashlight experiment if we assume that light is a continuous wave, an inexhaustible river flowing out of the flashlight? What if a wave – once emitted – remains permanently straight? Think of the flashlight as one of those StarWars-type light swords: the light always remains parallel with the flashlight, straight as an arrow! No matter what! (Again, focus your attention on what a wave is rather than on how it moves.) In order for light to touch the mirror, the passenger merely has to point it directly at the mirror. However, the passenger must first wait 5 seconds for the wave front to reach the mirror. Then, as long as he is not foolish enough to turn the flashlight off or interrupt its extension with nearby objects, the passenger can brighten far away objects instantaneously by simply tilting the flashlight. The straight wave hypothesis violates the well-established concept of velocity of light. If light can touch distant objects instantaneously, light does not travel at c. So even if Einstein’s boxcar experiments don’t tell us much about time dilation, they are good exercises to elucidate the true nature of light. Before we can accept Einstein’s explanation for the mirror experiment, we must first determine the architecture of light. Without this, Einstein has nothing, and Mathematics certainly won’t help him. How can light travel rectilinearly at the same time that it curves? This is the question that has stumped relativists for a hundred years.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 07:52:51 +0000
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