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  4. Can the theory of relativity be applied to photons?
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Can the theory of relativity be applied to photons?

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Offline afksf1944 (OP)

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Can the theory of relativity be applied to photons?
« on: 20/04/2019 12:00:49 »
Photons (light) speed, any where in space is always the same due to its atomic particle properties. If the speed is measured any time, any where in space at different locations by many observers moving at any speed from zero upwards in any direction, a constant speed is obtained (c).
Photons follow certain rules as other atomic particles do any where in space.
The speed of an electron orbiting the atom is the same every where in space measured by many observers at many locations and moving at any speed in any direction.
The theory of relativity cannot be applied in some cases and for certain things such as these.
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Offline Kryptid

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Re: Can the theory of relativity be applied to photons?
« Reply #1 on: 21/04/2019 02:58:12 »
Quote from: afksf1944 on 20/04/2019 12:00:49
The speed of an electron orbiting the atom is the same every where in space measured by many observers at many locations and moving at any speed in any direction.

Based on what information?
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Offline afksf1944 (OP)

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Re: Can the theory of relativity be applied to photons?
« Reply #2 on: 21/04/2019 08:24:22 »
Quote from: afksf1944 on 20/04/2019 12:00:49
Based on what information?
Electrons orbit the atom at a certain speed to stay in their orbit just like the earth orbiting the sun to stay in its orbit.

When a photon is ejected by an atom, it moves at the speed of light.
 Unless influenced by space matter/forces, It will continue in motion in the original direction and at the same speed anywhere, at any time in space.
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Offline evan_au

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Re: Can the theory of relativity be applied to photons?
« Reply #3 on: 21/04/2019 11:19:32 »
Quote from: afksf1944
Electrons orbit the atom at a certain speed to stay in their orbit just like the earth orbiting the sun to stay in its orbit.
This model of the atom, with negative electrons orbiting a positive nucleus (just like planets orbiting the Sun) was one of three models of an atom imagined by JJ Thompson in 1904. This was later elaborated by Rutherford in 1911 and Bohr, in 1913.

This simplified  "Bohr Model" is still taught in high school today as a simplified introduction to the structure of the atom, see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohr_model

One of the fatal flaws in the Solar System model was that planets can take any orbital potential energy around the Sun, while Bohr's 1913 theory already showed that electrons can only take on certain potential energy levels around a nucleus.

By the time Schrödinger's equation was developed in 1925, Bohr's model was obsolete. It became clear that although electrons did surround the nucleus in orbitals, the electrons were not like little planets orbiting the nucleus with a certain velocity - they were like waves, forming a fuzzy probability cloud around the atom.

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Photons follow certain rules as other atomic particles do
That's true - photons follow rules specific to photons, while electrons follow rules applicable for electrons, and protons follow different rules for protons.

The most significant rule in this discussion is that photons carry momentum and energy, but they have zero mass (what used to be called rest mass when I was at school).

Special Relativity requires that if a particle with zero mass is to have non-zero momentum (or non-zero energy), then that particle must travel at the speed of light in a vacuum.

A photon emitted deep within a gravitational well will be seen to have a lower frequency when measured farther outside the gravitational well, due to gravitational time dilation, as predicted by General Relativity.

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The theory of relativity cannot be applied in some cases and for certain things such as these.
I just did.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tests_of_general_relativity#Gravitational_redshift_of_light
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Offline afksf1944 (OP)

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Re: Can the theory of relativity be applied to photons?
« Reply #4 on: 21/04/2019 12:53:45 »
evan_au
Thank you for your much appreciated explanation. I must admit, after reading your description, I realised that my knowledge now is well out of date. I was qualified in 1974. I have to work hard to update my knowledge.
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