Abstract
In XVIIth century, Newton considered light as a collection of particles, now called photons according to Quantum Mechanics, traveling through space. Reflection and refraction of light were explained in a satisfactory way interpreting light rays as trajectory of photons.
Numerus omnium aptantur.
Pythagoras
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Notes
- 1.
In modern physics, it has been realized that “ether” is the “physical vacuum” that is a maximally symmetric configuration of spacetime where no physical field is present. This means that matter-energy density is extremely low. In this “vacuum”, electromagnetic waves propagate at the speed of light.
- 2.
The dual nature of light, and of any particle, is better framed in the context of Quantum Mechanics in relation to the concept of wave-particle. For a discussion, see [38].
- 3.
The acronym GPS stays for Global Positioning System. It is a satellite-based radio-navigation system that provides geolocation and time information to a receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to the fleet of GPS satellites. Obstacles, such as mountains, block or weaken the GPS signals.
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Boskoff, WG., Capozziello, S. (2020). Special Relativity. In: A Mathematical Journey to Relativity. UNITEXT for Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47894-0_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47894-0_8
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