- #1
meatwad
- 2
- 0
I understand that the speed of light in a vacuum is supposed to be constant. However, I am having a problem reconciling this fact with the Doppler effects of light.
Here's my problem...
Let's correlate a propagating beam of light with a moving train.
The faster that I move against the motion of the train, the quicker that each individual train moves past me. By saying that the "train car frequency" increases (has become blue-shifted), we can also understand that the speed of the entire train has increased relative to us.
If you replace each individual train with a full oscillation of the EM field, then you can understand how I'm having trouble making sense of the fact that, by moving against a beam of light, its increase in frequency does not also mean that the entire beam is moving relatively faster.
I understand that you can make an appeal to experimental "fact" in this case. That's all fine and well, but I just don't have access to the necessary equipment that will allow me to verify those claims. I'm trying to make philosophical sense of this conundrum. Can anyone help me out here?
Here's my problem...
Let's correlate a propagating beam of light with a moving train.
The faster that I move against the motion of the train, the quicker that each individual train moves past me. By saying that the "train car frequency" increases (has become blue-shifted), we can also understand that the speed of the entire train has increased relative to us.
If you replace each individual train with a full oscillation of the EM field, then you can understand how I'm having trouble making sense of the fact that, by moving against a beam of light, its increase in frequency does not also mean that the entire beam is moving relatively faster.
I understand that you can make an appeal to experimental "fact" in this case. That's all fine and well, but I just don't have access to the necessary equipment that will allow me to verify those claims. I'm trying to make philosophical sense of this conundrum. Can anyone help me out here?