Does light lose energy as travels?
A photon doesn’t lose energy unless it collides with a particle. Photons can scatter off interstellar electrons, for example. (Perhaps you were thinking about particles, like electrons, losing energy “in transit” in a vacuum. Photons carry energy, but they don’t lose energy just because they travel.
Why did Einstein square the speed of light?
The reason is that energy, be it light waves or radiation, travels at the speed of light. But why is the speed of light squared? The reason is that kinetic energy, or the energy of motion, is proportional to mass. When you accelerate an object, the kinetic energy increases to the tune of the speed squared.
How can light bend if it has no mass?
While it is true that photons have no mass, it is also true that we see light bend around sources with high mass due to gravity. This is not because the mass pulls on the photons directly, but instead because the mass warps the space-time through which the photons travel.
Are virtual particles dark matter?
Virtual particles are another potential explanation for dark energy. These theorized particles are believed to form when a classical particle (or even a region of empty space) temporarily transforms into a set of virtual particles, which may or may not have the same mass as the original.
Is dark matter an illusion?
The mysterious substance known as dark matter may actually be an illusion created by gravitational interactions between short-lived particles of matter and antimatter, a new study says. This dark matter provides the extra mass, which in turn creates gravitational fields strong enough to hold the clusters together.
Is dark matter repulsive?
The even distribution means that dark energy does not have any local gravitational effects, but rather a global effect on the universe as a whole. This leads to a repulsive force, which tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe.
Why is dark energy so mysterious?
What Is Dark Energy? More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the universe’s expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery.