Can light travel through a vacuum?

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SUMMARY

Light can travel through a vacuum, as evidenced by its ability to reach Earth from celestial bodies like the moon. The speed of light, denoted as 'c', is constant in a vacuum and does not require a medium for propagation, unlike other types of waves. The concept of the ether, once thought to be necessary for light's travel, has been rendered obsolete by modern theories that describe light as electromagnetic waves. This understanding is foundational to the principles of special relativity, which arise from Lorentz transformations that account for the invariance of physical laws across different frames of reference.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of electromagnetic waves and their properties
  • Familiarity with the concept of the speed of light (c)
  • Basic knowledge of special relativity and Lorentz transformations
  • Awareness of historical theories regarding the ether
NEXT STEPS
  • Study the principles of electromagnetic wave propagation
  • Explore the implications of special relativity on time and space
  • Learn about Lorentz transformations and their applications
  • Investigate the historical context and experiments that debunked the ether theory
USEFUL FOR

Physics students, educators, and anyone interested in the fundamental principles of light and relativity will benefit from this discussion.

jaypee
Can light travel through a vacuum? If so, can you provide an example.

thx.
 
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Have you ever seen the moon? :wink:
 
Space is essentially a vaccuum. Furthermore, C is the speed of light in a vacuum, so how do you think we got that?!?
 
Yeah, unlike most other waves, light doesn't need a medium to travel through..It was proposed that there was some medium called the ether, but I think experiments could not find conclusive evidence supporting it.
 
And current theories of light as a group of mutually supporting electric and magnetic fields have made the ether rather pointless, as well as explained several other phenomenons...
 
light is a electromagnetic waves...
sure can through a vacuum
 
No ethir means no difference for any experiment in moving vs non-moving with any velocity lab. So, h, c, G, e and all laws of nature shall not depend on lab's velocity. This in turn requires that h, c, G, e shall be invariant values (shall not depend on velocity of moving by them pobserver). This in turn requires space and time to be transformed very certain way (called Lorents transformations). Special relativity then precepitates from those transformations mathematically.
 
No ether means no difference for any experiment in moving vs non-moving with any velocity lab. So, h, c, G, e and all laws of nature shall not depend on lab's velocity.

This in turn requires that h, c, G, e shall be invariant values (=shall have the SAME numerical values measured by DIFFERENT observers regardless their mutual motion). Say, observer moving with some velocity past electric charge shall measure same charge as non-moving observer. Or observer moving by flashlight shall measure same c as non-moving one.

This in turn requires space and time to be transformed very certain way between moving systems (called Lorents transformations).

Special relativity then precepitates from those transformations mathematically.
 

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