This just does not make sense to me.I know that light exhibits wave characteristics as well as a force of about 3 piconewtons per 1 milliwatt of power.So why does light not break the sound barrier when
entering Earth's atmosphere?
entering Earth's atmosphere?
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Breaking the sound barrier is a term reserved for objects (e.g. airplanes) accelerating so that at some point they travel faster than the speed of sound. When this happens there is a sonic boom due to the pressure build up in front of the plane (air molecules 'piling up' near the nose).
Light is not an object. It can be thought of as waves or photons (massless particles). These don't cause any pressure build up when they enter the atmosphere because light doesn't affects molecules in the same way as a solid object does.
Light is not an object. It can be thought of as waves or photons (massless particles). These don't cause any pressure build up when they enter the atmosphere because light doesn't affects molecules in the same way as a solid object does.
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Light does push atoms and moleculesv ery but onl,y very slightly. The effect is tiny compared to a solid object moving through th air. A spacecraft would very large 'sails' and the vecloity would rise over days and weeks rather than over seconds.
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In order to create the shock wave called a sonic boom, the light would have to push the air molecules ahead of it as it traveled.
Light doesn't have any significant effect on the air molecules as it travels through.
Lightning creates a shock wave because it causes sudden heating in a small area, and that DOES cause the molecules to move suddenly in the same direction.
Light doesn't have any significant effect on the air molecules as it travels through.
Lightning creates a shock wave because it causes sudden heating in a small area, and that DOES cause the molecules to move suddenly in the same direction.
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it isnt physical wave.