Re: Light & very small distances - paradox??
- From: "rotchm@xxxxxxxxx" <rotchm@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 29 Jul 2005 06:56:54 -0700
>how long does it take a photon to travel an
>infinetesimally small distance?"
Perhaps you can view your problem mathematically. v=s/t.
If the distance is infinitely small, then the time is infinitely small
: t=s/v.
If s tends to zero, then t tends to zero.
Or, if s is infinitely small, t is 300000000 smaller.
>So if you extend this out to infinity, light jumps between points
>instantly meaning it will go an infinite distance in zero time???
No, You have t infinitly small being done and infinite number of times.
thus t*infinite is not necesarely zero, nor finite nor infinite. It
depends on the order of magnitude of the variables.
Here all is proportional (or inversely...). This is just a variant of
zeno's paradox.
Your words are confusing you with the mathematical concepts. "infinitly
small" and "instantly" do not mean the same thing.
"instantly" means "zero time". Infinitly small" (time interval) means
TENDS to zero.
Moreover, "infinity" is not a number. You can not apply usual math
operations on it.
----
If you want to be sure, then always doubt.
}:-)
.
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