How Does Light "Know" How Fast to Travel?

How Does Light "Know" How Fast to Travel?

"Great spirits have always encountered violent oppositions from mediocre
minds." - A. Einstein

One of the basic beliefs of modern physics is that the velocity of
light is the same wherever and whenever it is measured. It is, in the
language of physics, invariant. To illustrate this understanding, let us
consider an example in which a rocket ship passes Mars on its way towards
Earth. On the rocket ship and on Mars are two radio transmitters arranged so
that, at the instant the ship passes Mars and transmitters are at the same
distance from Earth, both transmitters send a signal towards Earth. Along
the route, test stations observe the passage of the signals and report that
the signals pass each station simultaneously, exactly in accordance with the
requirements of Special Relativity. (Radio signals differ from light signals
only in their frequency. Relativistically, their behavior is identical..)

This observation presents no problem if the radio signals is are waves
propagating through a medium (e.g.- the Aether) as sound does though air.
The velocity of a wave propagating through a medium is the velocity of
propagation of that wave though the medium. The velocity of propagation of
the sound of a gunshot is independent of the velocity of the gun while the
velocity of the bullet is not. The observation presents a difficulty,
however, if we regard the photons which makeup the radio wave as particles
which are emitted from the source and travel ballistically to the target.
Such would seem to be the concept of the propagation of light when one
considers the apparent banishment of the Aether following the acceptance of
Special Relativity. If there is no medium, then the observably same velocity
of the two radio waves could only occur if the transmitter on the rocket
ship had measured its velocity with respect to the transmitter on Mars and
adjusted the velocity of its transmitted signal so as to cause the two
signals to travel together.

The side by side propagation of the radio signals presents no problem
if one accepts that they are a vibrational disturbance traveling through a
medium (e.g. - the Aether), but if there is no medium it would seem to
require that some sort of "magic" be involved. The presence of magic in
physical processes is more difficult for the writer to accept than is the
existence of the classical Aether. This conclusion is particularly true
since the Aether has been shown to be conventionally unobservable but has
never been shown to be non-existent. The latter conclusion results from the
fact that physicists have jumped from an unproven assertion to a foregone
conclusion. Dr. Einstein did warn that the non-existence of the Aether had
not been proven, what had been proven was that it was not necessary for
computations of relativistic effects.

The source material for this posting may be found in "Gravity" (1987),
"The Einstein Hoax" (1997), and "Corrections to Residual Errors in Special
Relativity (1999) located at
.
EVERYTHING WHICH WE ACCEPT AS TRUE MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH EVERYTHING ELSE
WE HAVE ACCEPTED AS TRUE, IT MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH ALL OBSERVATIONS, AND
IT MUST BE MATHEMATICALLY VIABLE. PRESENT TEACHINGS DO NOT ALWAYS MEET THIS
REQUIREMENT. THE WORLD IS ENTITLED TO A HIGHER STANDARD OF WORKMANSHIP FROM
THOSE IT HAS GRANTED WORLD CLASS STATUS.

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On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 10:19:21 -0400, "Nigol" wrote:

How Does Light "Know" How Fast to Travel?

Great question.

I commend the paper:
Why the Universe is Just So
by Craig J. Hogan (U. Washington)
http://xyz.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/9909295
(quoting)
Some properties of the world are fixed by physics derived from
mathematical symmetries, while others are selected from an ensemble of

possibilities. Out of the twenty parameters of the Standard Model, the

basic behavior and structures of the world (nucleons, nuclei, atoms,
molecules, planets, stars, galaxies) depend mainly on five of them are

taken as defined quantities). (end quote)

no diatribe please.

John Bailey
http://home.rochester.rr.com/jbxroads/mailto.html