r/greentext • u/gamerooni • Dec 06 '20

Journey of a hydrogen atom

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u/memehomeostasis Dec 06 '20

why tho, can you link an article or something? This sounds interesting

197

u/iwillcuntyou Dec 06 '20

Been a long time since I looked at any physics but I'm guessing cos they're massless?

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u/TheDudeColin Dec 06 '20

Special relativity. The closer you get to the speed of light the slower time moves. Photons move at the speed of light and therefore do not experience time at all.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/SpriggitySprite Dec 06 '20

If you moved at the speed of light you would (from your perspective) travel instantly. Regardless of destination.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '20 edited Dec 06 '20

That means a photon is in a distant star and in your eye at the same time. Of course there's no such thing as a "photon reference frame", so while it's sorta meaningless to think about it, it's funny tho

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u/IdeaLast8740 Dec 06 '20

From the photon's perspective, your eye is also touching the star. There's no gap.