Speed of light

[KenGee (Kenith Gee)]

the answer is it appears to bend around the star or anything else with a lot of Mass. Spacetime is curved by Massive objects.

[OICURMT]

Originally Posted by Ernest Wilson

Thanks Carl. DO we have two answers? Refraction in a denser medium and/or gravitation. Does the gravitational field make the atmosphere around a star denser and cause refraction of light?
Ernie.

3rd potential answer....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_speed_of_light

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by Ernest Wilson

Thanks Carl. DO we have two answers? Refraction in a denser medium and/or gravitation. Does the gravitational field make the atmosphere around a star denser and cause refraction of light?
Ernie.

No, the gravitational field of the star bends the spacetime around the star. The light the travels through that warped spacetime follows the curvature of that spacetime.

Same as any of the planets or other objects that orbit the Sun travel a path in the curved space around the Sun. A straight line path, which in curved spacetime is a curved orbit

[leon]

Very interesting debate.

Leon

[Ernest Wilson]

Ah! Space-Time is the reason. It sounds as if it was invented to explain the unexplainable!!! Another thought, if light is a particle then it has mass, so the gravitational field around the star attracts it. On the other hand if it is a wave, then it is refracted. Of course if we say that it is both, then the problem is solved; or is it? Wikipedia seems to have a bit each way.
Ernie.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by Ernest Wilson

Ah! Space-Time is the reason. It sounds as if it was invented to explain the unexplainable!!! Another thought, if light is a particle then it has mass, so the gravitational field around the star attracts it. On the other hand if it is a wave, then it is refracted. Of course if we say that it is both, then the problem is solved; or is it? Wikipedia seems to have a bit each way.
Ernie.

Photons have no mass. Whether they're a wave or a particle at the time you observer them, they still travel the curved path in the warped spacetime around a massive object. Remember, photons have a dual particle-wave nature.

[Ernest Wilson]

Thanks Carl,
We have protons with no mass whether they be particles or waves, and they slide around warped space-time presumably at the speed of light. I am confused but that is due to my limited imagination. Thanks, I'll start another thread.
Ernie

[Zaps]

Photon. (Wikipedia.)

Gravitational lens. (Wikipedia.)

Gravitational Lensing at KIPAC.

Gravitational Lensing with Wineglasses.

There are vast amounts of info about this subject available online. Noone with an Internet connection has any excuse for not being familiar with the basics.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by Ernest Wilson

Thanks Carl,
We have protons with no mass whether they be particles or waves, and they slide around warped space-time presumably at the speed of light. I am confused but that is due to my limited imagination. Thanks, I'll start another thread.
Ernie

Photons, not protons