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The linear motion can be of two types: uniform linear motion, with constant velocity (zero acceleration); and non-uniform linear motion, with variable velocity (non-zero acceleration). The motion of a particle (a point-like object) along a line can be described by its position x {\displaystyle x} , which varies with t {\displaystyle t} (time).
Rectilinear propagation was discovered by Pierre de Fermat. [1] Rectilinear propagation is only an approximation. [citation needed] The rectilinear approximation is only valid for short distances, in reality light is a wave and have a tendency to spread out over time. The distances for which the approximation is valid depends on the wavelength ...
In general relativity, light follows the curvature of spacetime, hence when light passes around a massive object, it is bent. This means that the light from an object on the other side will be bent towards an observer's eye, just like an ordinary lens. In general relativity the path of light depends on the shape of space (i.e. the metric).
The electromagnetic field admits a coordinate-independent geometric description, and Maxwell's equations expressed in terms of these geometric objects are the same in any spacetime, curved or not. Also, the same modifications are made to the equations of flat Minkowski space when using local
A light field parameterized this way is sometimes called a light slab. Some alternative parameterizations of the 4D light field, which represents the flow of light through an empty region of three-dimensional space. Left: points on a plane or curved surface and directions leaving each point. Center: pairs of points on the surface of a sphere.
In part correct, [2] being able to successfully explain refraction, reflection, rectilinear propagation and to a lesser extent diffraction, the theory would fall out of favor in the early nineteenth century, as the wave theory of light amassed new experimental evidence. [3] The modern understanding of light is the concept of wave-particle duality.
A complete field theory knows only fields and not the concepts of particle and motion. For these must not exist independently from the field but are to be treated as part of it. On the basis of the description of a particle without singularity, one has the possibility of a logically more satisfactory treatment of the combined problem: The ...
A light ray is a line or curve that is perpendicular to the light's wavefronts (and is therefore collinear with the wave vector). A slightly more rigorous definition of a light ray follows from Fermat's principle , which states that the path taken between two points by a ray of light is the path that can be traversed in the least time.