claforet Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Hello, I have a question about the measurement of light speed and frequency. How are these physically measured? In particular, when we say the speed of light is constant, are we saying that the front tip of the wave always arrives at the same time or the end of the wave? I ask because it must take less time to resolve the frequency of a gamma ray, relative to a very long radio wave (i.e. the measurement of the frequency cannot be instantaneous). So the speed of information (which is frequency dependant) must not be constant (assuming one wavelength of any frequency corresponds to one unit of information). I'm just curious about the specifics of measurement and calculation. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathematic Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_ray_spectrometer The above may help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claforet Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 http://en.wikipedia....ay_spectrometer The above may help. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 So the speed of information (which is frequency dependant) must not be constant (assuming one wavelength of any frequency corresponds to one unit of information). That's bandwidth, not speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek w Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 I have a question. If I throw a ball against a wall it would bounce back to me. if I throw a ball that is spinning at 100 revs/min against a wall it would bounce back at an angle. if I throw a ball that is spinning at 1000 revs/min against a wall it would bounce back at a higher angle. My question is how does the diffraction of light work. Is the frequency of light a rate of spin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 My question is how does the diffraction of light work. Is the frequency of light a rate of spin? No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek w Posted May 6, 2012 Share Posted May 6, 2012 Would polarized light be a 2 dimensional wave function? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cuthber Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Would polarized light be a 2 dimensional wave function? No, classically, the electrical field and the magnetic field are both at right angles to each other and to the direction of propagation of the light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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