Owe Kristiansen
- 27
- 13
- TL;DR Summary
- Just realized something elegant by studying ratios:
The bending of light by gravity can be written as:
phi = (2 × potential energy) / (kinetic energy)
It simplifies to phi = 4GM / rc²
That is:
Potential energy: GMm / r
Kinetic energy: ½ mc²
phi = 2 *(GMm / r) / (½ mc²)
This gives the full general relativity result — 1.75 arcseconds for light grazing the Sun — using a simple Newtonian energy ratio.
The factor 2 is needed, not completely sure why.
Mass cancels out, so any mass gives same result.
Comments appreciated.
Potential energy: GMm / r
Kinetic energy: ½ mc²
phi = 2 *(GMm / r) / (½ mc²)
This gives the full general relativity result — 1.75 arcseconds for light grazing the Sun — using a simple Newtonian energy ratio.
The factor 2 is needed, not completely sure why.
Mass cancels out, so any mass gives same result.
Comments appreciated.