Table of Contents
How can light be bent by gravity?
Originally Answered: Why is light bent by gravity? Light travels in a straight line geodesically. So when gravity bends spacetime, it bends the very fabric in which that light travels through. Therefore, light has to pass through the path with the least resistance, which is the curvature of spacetime as it is bent.
How does light bend around black holes?
Black holes are regions in space-time where gravity’s pull is so powerful that not even light can escape its grasp. However, while light cannot escape a black hole, its extreme gravity warps space around it, which allows light to “echo,” bending around the back of the object.
How can a black hole bend light if it has no mass?
A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape, not even light. It might be surprising to you to hear that gravity can affect light even though light has no mass. If gravity obeyed Newton’s law of universal gravitation, then gravity would indeed have no effect on light.
Does gravity bend space or light?
Answer 2: Light has energy, energy is equivalent to mass, and mass exerts gravitational force. Thus, light creates gravity, i.e. the bending of space-time.
Do black holes bend gravity?
But the gravitational force of a black hole changes things considerably. Light rays that pass close to the black hole get caught and cannot escape. Therefore, the region around the black hole is a dark disk. Light rays that pass a little further away don’t get caught but do get bent by the black hole’s gravity.
Can photons make a black hole?
A 400 nm photon has an energy of nearly 4.97E-19 joules, and this implies that you need 2.42E37/4.97E-19 or 4.9E55 photons of that wavelength all packed into a ball with a 400 nm radius to form your black hole.
Does light bend?
Yes, light can bend around corners. In fact, light always bends around corners to some extent. This is a basic property of light and all other waves. The ability of light to bend around corners is also known as “diffraction”.