OK, I couldn't resist.....
1) massless particles do exist and they can be detected too! There are two types that we know of so far, 'Photons' and 'Gluons'. Photons make up light and other electromagnetic radiation. Gluons carry a strong nuclear force that hold quarks together.
2)Gravity does bend light. How it does it nobody quite knows for sure. Seeing as light is made up of massless photons it would seem that another mass would have no gravitational effect on it, but it does. In 1919 Einstein predicted that an imminent solar eclipse would appear to move the surrounding background stars from their current positions during the duration of the eclipse then move them back when the eclipse ended. They appeared to do just that. However, the stars had not moved at all. What had happended is that light rays from distant stars were deflected by the gravity of our sun on its way to us. This proved that a large enough mass could bend light. This gravitational effect on light confirmed his thoery of gravity or 'General Relativity'.
3) So it would appear that light has mass based on the evidence collected from eclipse experiments even though the light itself is made up of massless photons. The bottom line to whether light has mass is both 'yes' and 'no'. It depends who you talk to. The reality is that there must be some other element that makes up light that we dont know of that interacts with other masses.
4) The black hole thing is too long to get into and I could talk all day about it. Most of it is only theory anyway.
5) Is the earth flat? The answer to this is 'no'. It is spherical in shape. But how can you observe this fact yourself without simply listening to someone elses explanation? There is an experiment that everyone can do to prove this and you don't need a ticket on the space shuttle to find out. How about a lunar eclipse? Perfect! When a full Moon occurs in the plane of Earth's orbit, the Moon slowly moves through Earth's shadow. Every time that shadow is seen, its edge is round. The only solid that always projects a round shadow is a sphere. It cannot be a flat circle because lunar eclipses happen at different altitudes and attitudes every time yet the shadow on the moon is always round. The earth therefore must be spherical in shape.
That's my pennies worth and I hope that you found it interesting.
Prof.
p.s. Markd - Nice picture. Is that the Hubble Deep Field View?
1) massless particles do exist and they can be detected too! There are two types that we know of so far, 'Photons' and 'Gluons'. Photons make up light and other electromagnetic radiation. Gluons carry a strong nuclear force that hold quarks together.
2)Gravity does bend light. How it does it nobody quite knows for sure. Seeing as light is made up of massless photons it would seem that another mass would have no gravitational effect on it, but it does. In 1919 Einstein predicted that an imminent solar eclipse would appear to move the surrounding background stars from their current positions during the duration of the eclipse then move them back when the eclipse ended. They appeared to do just that. However, the stars had not moved at all. What had happended is that light rays from distant stars were deflected by the gravity of our sun on its way to us. This proved that a large enough mass could bend light. This gravitational effect on light confirmed his thoery of gravity or 'General Relativity'.
3) So it would appear that light has mass based on the evidence collected from eclipse experiments even though the light itself is made up of massless photons. The bottom line to whether light has mass is both 'yes' and 'no'. It depends who you talk to. The reality is that there must be some other element that makes up light that we dont know of that interacts with other masses.
4) The black hole thing is too long to get into and I could talk all day about it. Most of it is only theory anyway.
5) Is the earth flat? The answer to this is 'no'. It is spherical in shape. But how can you observe this fact yourself without simply listening to someone elses explanation? There is an experiment that everyone can do to prove this and you don't need a ticket on the space shuttle to find out. How about a lunar eclipse? Perfect! When a full Moon occurs in the plane of Earth's orbit, the Moon slowly moves through Earth's shadow. Every time that shadow is seen, its edge is round. The only solid that always projects a round shadow is a sphere. It cannot be a flat circle because lunar eclipses happen at different altitudes and attitudes every time yet the shadow on the moon is always round. The earth therefore must be spherical in shape.
That's my pennies worth and I hope that you found it interesting.
Prof.
p.s. Markd - Nice picture. Is that the Hubble Deep Field View?