- Bending-of-Light-0.mp3
- Bending-of-Light-0.mp4
- Bending-of-Light-I.mp3
- Bending-of-Light-I.mp4
- Bending-of-Light-Interlude-2.mp3
- Bending-of-Light-Interlude.mp3
- Bending-of-Light-intro.mp3
[Intro]
The weakest force
(Can move light off course)
Bending the rays sending
[Verse 1]
Able to bend light
(Without a single sound)
It’s a bird…
(No much more plain)
[Chorus]
It’s gravitational
(Sensational)
Black hole’s kryptonite
(Makes the light dark as night)
With all it’s might!
[Bridge]
Bending (Lensing)
(Shift, shift)
Shapiro Delay
(Hey! Hey! Hey!)
[Verse 1]
Super force
(Moving mountain and men)
Even light’s thrown off course
(To the rescue again and again)
[Chorus]
It’s gravitational
(Sensational)
Black hole’s kryptonite
(Makes the light dark as night)
With all it’s might!
[Bridge]
Bending (Lensing)
(Shift, shift)
Shapiro Delay
(Hey! Hey! Hey!)
[Chorus]
It’s gravitational
(Sensational)
Black hole’s kryptonite
(Makes the light dark as night)
With all it’s might!
[Outro]
The force
(To throw light off course)
A SCIENCE NOTE
Gravity affects light through a phenomenon predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. This effect occurs because gravity is not just a force acting on objects with mass but rather a warping of spacetime caused by mass and energy. Here’s how gravity affects light:
1. Gravitational Bending of Light (Gravitational Lensing)
When light passes near a massive object, such as a star or black hole, the curvature of spacetime around that object causes the path of the light to bend. This bending is known as gravitational lensing and has been observed in phenomena such as:
- The bending of starlight around the Sun during a solar eclipse, first observed in 1919.
- Images of distant galaxies being distorted into arcs or multiple images due to the presence of a massive galaxy cluster between the source and observer.
2. Gravitational Redshift
Light escaping from a strong gravitational field loses energy, which results in a decrease in its frequency and an increase in its wavelength. This is known as gravitational redshift and is observed in light emitted from stars or near black holes. The effect was first confirmed in 1960 in laboratory experiments.
3. Black Holes and Event Horizons
In extremely strong gravitational fields, such as those near a black hole, the warping of spacetime can become so intense that light cannot escape beyond a certain boundary known as the event horizon. This creates the appearance of a “black” hole from which no light can reach an outside observer.
4. Shapiro Delay
When light travels through a region of space influenced by a massive object, its path is not only bent but also takes longer to traverse. This additional delay, known as the Shapiro delay, has been used to confirm the effects of gravity on light using radar signals sent to planets and their moons.
In all these effects, gravity demonstrates its ability to influence light, even though light has no mass. This influence highlights the deep connection between spacetime geometry and energy as described by relativity.