My astronomy teacher told us something pretty crazy
today. He claimed that we (and by we, I
mean him and other crazy smart scientist folk) don’t know what light is. He told us that he can tell us how it
behaves, but not what is IS. It acts
like a wave and like a particle at the same time. It has no mass but it has energy and the
ability to make things happen. He said
the closest definition he could give us was that it is a way of transmitting
energy between masses… but that was not a nearly full enough definition.
I think it’s crazy that we don’t have an answer to
this. We have equations – mathematical interpretations
of how it works. We know how to use it,
both in daily life and in crazy-awesome-sciencey-stuff (my technical jargon
needs a little work). But we have not
yet figured out its essence. It’s almost
a philosophy thing. “Yes, but what IS
light?” Can you hear the dusty old professor
asking?
My instructor today told us a story about his college
days. He went and asked his “really old,
really German” physics professor to explain light to him, and the professor
referred him to the philosophy department.
“We don’t answer questions like that in physics.”
So, light is a duality.
Light is mathematical. Light is
without substance but not without influence.
Light is… sounding like the start to a really great think and a really
great write.
Light is something that we just normally accept, something that allows us to see and we don't usually think much about it. But scientists obviously have a different viewpoint. Sometimes its the different views we receive from others that lead to great stories. Writing about light would be incredibly open-ended and can definitely be a great place to start.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how we accept light to give us a way to see into darkness. How, in the Bible, light was one of the first things created. However, what is light? Something that is not questioned, but is appreciated. Young children are not afraid thanks to a tiny little bulb that gives them the ability to see pass the shadows. The light from the sun provides energy for the plants to grow for food for animals and the animals who eat the animals who eat the plants (as roundabout as that was phrased). Light is something to ponder, but no matter what, light is something we have embraced as a part of our lives.
ReplyDeleteI believe the reason we don't have words to describe what light is, is because it's circular. To have words in our language that explain it, we would have had to have people who knew what they were talking about it. There's plenty of things that go on in our world unexplained, things people write off or set aside for another time- phenomena. Light is what it is; it's us and our culture that must adapt and change to build words to understand it.
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