Why does a photon not experience time?

Yet despite this incredible journey, the photon itself experiences none of what we know as time: it simply is emitted and then instantaneously is absorbed, experiencing the entirety of its travels through space in literally no time. Given everything that we know, a photon never ages in any way at all.

Why light disappears when its source is turned off where does the existing photons go that were emitted by light source?

Light is so fast that any photon will be absorbed in an instant. While the light is on, new photons are emitted to replace the old and keep the room lit, but as soon as the light goes off, the exiting photons are absorbed.

What happens to photons when they travel away from a light source?

What happens to the intensity of light as photons move away from the light source? As photons move away from the light, the intensity decreases. The closer you get to a light source, the brighter the light appears because its photons have not spread out as much.

Does time dilation affect photons?

Time dilation is only for massive particles, clocks, binded energy in general. Light is not affected by time, photons don’t feel the time-like part. We don’t talk about length contraction and time dilation of a particle, that makes no sense. We talk about these effects in the frame it is moving.

Is light instantaneous?

Light essentially does move instantaneously, as does gravity and perhaps other phenomena that we are yet to discover – but we should never expect to discover anything that moves faster than instantaneously, as the idea makes no sense.

Why are photons emitted?

When the electron changes levels, it decreases energy and the atom emits photons. The photon is emitted with the electron moving from a higher energy level to a lower energy level. The energy of the photon is the exact energy that is lost by the electron moving to its lower energy level.

How are photons related to light?

A photon is the smallest discrete amount or quantum of electromagnetic radiation. It is the basic unit of all light. This is commonly referred to as the speed of light, denoted by the letter c. As per Einstein’s light quantum theory, photons have energy equal to their oscillation frequency times Planck’s constant.

Do photons go away?

Photons are not indestructible. They can be destroyed, as they undergo ‘absorption’ when traveling through matter. A photon is basically, a quantum of electromagnetic energy. In the process of absorption, one or more photons can be absorbed by nuclear particles or atoms, and basically get destroyed.

Can humans ever directly see a photon?

Yes. In fact, photons are the only things that humans can directly see. A photon is a bit of light.

Why do we not observe the effect of time dilation in everyday phenomenon?

If time slows down as objects move faster, then why don’t we notice it? Well, we don’t notice time dilation in our everyday life because we don’t come anywhere close to the speed of light. It is only at speeds close to light that time dilation becomes evident.

Do photons of light experience time?

Photons do not experience time. From the perspective of a photon, there is no such thing as time. It’s emitted, and might exist for hundreds of trillions of years, but for the photon, there’s zero time elapsed between when it’s emitted and when it’s absorbed again.

Does time pass from the perspective of a photon?

Time genuinely doesn’t pass from the “perspective” of a photon but, like everything in relativity, the situation isn’t as simple as photons “being in stasis” until they get where they’re going.

How far can a photon travel at the speed of light?

Whenever there’s a “time effect” there’s a “distance effect” as well, and in this case we find that infinite time dilation (no time for photons) goes hand in hand with infinite length contraction (there’s no distance to the destination). At the speed of light there’s no time to cover any distance, but there’s also no distance to cover.

Is the journey of a photon instantaneous?

All the distances along your direction of motion will be contracted down to a single point. And you will not experience the passage of time; you entire journey will appear to you to be instantaneous. But from a photon’s perspective, the journey is instantaneous. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user LucasVB.

What are the effects of relativity in everyday life?

The effects of relativity, even though they’re small under most circumstances, are always at play. The reason is because things don’t just move through space, and they don’t just move forward in time. It’s because space and time are linked as part of a unified fabric: spacetime.