Re: Relativity [was incorrectly: Quantum Mechanics]

Steve VanDevender (stevev@efn.org)
Sat, 25 May 1996 13:31:12 -0700


Mike Wangsmo writes:
> Based on the fact that a light beam exhibits properties of both waves and
> particles, it is clearly obvious that a particle is accelerated or
> decelerated by the affects of gravity.

Yours is a hideously naive statement; your "fact" is nothing of the
kind. Light is an electromagnetic wave, period. If you change the
speed of light, you must also change the fundamental electric and
magnetic properties of the vacuum. Spacetime curvature doesn't change
those properties. Light that approaches a gravitational source gains
energy (decreases in wavelength, increases in frequency). Light that
goes away from a gravitational source loses energy (increases in
wavelength, decreases in frequency). The photons themselves are not
measured to speed up or slow down. Light is affected by gravity, but
not in the way you believe it is.