How Much Does Light Bend?
Not much (in our ordinary experience)!
- Consider a distance of 30m (this room):
- Light takes t = 30 m / 3X108 m/s = 10-7 sec to cross the room
- How far does it “fall” in this time t?
- The same amount anything falls in time t
- ?y= 1/2 gt2 = 5X10-14 m (Very small distance!)
How can we make this bigger?
- Increase the flight path length.
- Increase the gravitational field strength.
Example on next slide:
- Deflection of light of stars that passes close to the Sun.