Table of Contents
How does a photon bend space-time?
The latest theoretical results show that the gravitational field of a photon is not static, but a gravitational wave emanating from the events of the emission and absorption of the photon. Thus the spacetime is bent by the charged particles emitting or absorbing photons, but not by the photons themselves.
What causes space-time to curve?
Around any mass (or energy), spacetime is curved. The presence of planets, stars and galaxies deform the fabric of spacetime like a large ball deforms a bedsheet. When a smaller mass passes near a larger mass, it curves toward the larger mass because spacetime itself is curved toward the larger mass.
Do electrons warp spacetime?
Yes it does. Electrons have mass and energy and mass and energy create gravity. However, for something as small as an electron, this curvature of spacetime is essentially zero and is undetectable.
Can laser bend space-time?
Laser beams do not curve spacetime. Not because they aren’t powerful enough, but because that isn’t what EM does to spacetime. EM follows the geodesics of spacetime which are already curved by mass.
Does a photon have gravity?
Photons are discrete, particle-like units of electromagnetic radiation, more commonly known as light. Unlike particles of matter, however, photons have no mass. It is surprising, then, to find that gravity—traditionally understood as the force attracting any two objects with mass—can affect light.
Why is time different in space than on earth?
We all measure our experience in space-time differently. That’s because space-time isn’t flat — it’s curved, and it can be warped by matter and energy. And for astronauts on the International Space Station, that means they get to age just a tiny bit slower than people on Earth. That’s because of time-dilation effects.
Do magnets warp spacetime?
Electric charges and magnets do indeed “distort space,” but this happens on a couple of levels. Since matter carries energy (via Einstein’s famous relation that energy is mass times the speed of light squared), such objects will have a gravitational field and so they will distort space-time.
Do magnets curve spacetime?
How can space-time be curved?
In general relativity, space-time is curved, or “warped,” by the distribution of mass and energy in it. Bodies such as the earth are not made to move on curved orbits bv a force called gravity; instead they move in curved orbits because they follow the nearest thing to a straight path in a curved space, which is called a geodesic.
How does the mass of the Sun curve space-time?
Though the phenomenon is harder to picture, the mass of the sun curves space-time in such a way that although the earth follows a straight path in four-dimensional space-time, it appears to us to move along a nearly circular orbit in three-dimensional space.
What is curved space according to Einstein?
Curved Space. Einstein’s theory of General Relativity is based on the revolutionary suggestion that gravity is not a force like other forces but a consequence of the fact that space-time is not flat, as had been previously assumed. In general relativity, space-time is curved, or “warped,” by the distribution of mass and energy in it.
How does the curvature of spacetime affect gravity?
The curvature of spacetime (not just space) is responsible for gravity. Literally, near heavy objects, the “future direction” points slightly down. So anything that moves forward in time will find its trajectory pointing down slightly.