Offset Energy Values Improve E-M Wave Structure

Most people think of light, or any electromagnetic wave, as a two-dimensional squiggle. Only in the last few years has it started to become common knowledge that light actually manifests along two perpendicular planes as it propagates, giving rise to a three-dimensional wave form.

The conventional idea of this three-dimensional wave is that a wave will crest at the same time at related points on both of the planes, as shown in figure 1 (image by Windows to the Universe, University of Michigan). However, new information has come to light that allows us to refine this view of light into an even more precise picture. This is the new model of 3-D light.

To begin, let us consider a seemingly unrelated question: does light have mass? The best inquiries of the last several decades have left us with the bitter taste of inconclusiveness in our collective mouths. Under some circumstances, light does seem to have mass, but under others, it does not.

The most troubling aspect of the whole predicament stems from General Relativity: any object with mass requires an infinite amount of force to be accelerated to the speed of light. However, any energy can be said to have mass, as Einstein showed in his paper, An Elementary Derivation of the Equivalence of Mass and Energy (1946), which gave us the famous formula Energy equal Mass times the speed of light, squared.

Assuming that Einstein did not contradict himself, how can both of these things be true for any photon at the same time? To answer that question, let us look at some of the recent developments in the field of particle physics.

Figure 2: The new model of light, with a constant energy value.

Credit: Bryan Belrad

Copyright: Bryan Belrad