Effect of Gravity on the light

Eiffel tower

paris,france

02 june 02

series- Science in daily life

article no.3

Dear all

today i am taling about the effect of gravity on light.it is strange to hear as the gravitational force is the weakest of all the forces.. the light is bended by the gravitational force of planet.we always see that light travels in a straight light and with a uniform speed in one medium.however when the medium changes there is refraction of light and its velocity decreses a bit.

suppose we are seeing the planet mars through the telescope and we see a light which we think it is of the planet mars. but it is not always. there can be any cellestial body behind the mars. we cant see it as mars obstructs it. but its light comes.it is because if we see the edges of mars we can see that the light is coming from a single point.this is actuallly the gravitational bending of the light. the light traveling in straight when it is attracted by the gravity,it shows slight bending.if this phenomena would not have been there then light from that cellestial object wouldnt have reached us and that would have been mars' light only. this is also related that the light travels through our atmosphere and as the atmosphere is curved,the light also follows a slight curved path as we see from earth but in reality it doesnt.it will travel straight.only it is in the case of gravity.so it is same everywhere even when there is eclipse.

when the radius of the cellestial body is less and its mass is more then the light will travel like a cyclone and will be attracted towards center of mass.when radius is more and mass is less,then light will travel in straight line as less mass means less gravity..

another phenomena is gravitational time dilation and gravitational redshift......

PART II

ARE WE BLIND

well i am not saying that anyone is blind. but in the sky when we see an object x.. suppose it is closer to planet jupiter. as shown in the above diagram, we will see that as per our frame of refrence it is to left of jupiter.but in reality it is due to the gravitational bending of light. so as jupiter's gravity is high,in reality that object can be to the right of jupiter as per our frame of reference. we call this

1] actual position .

2 apparent position.

it is possible that the actual position and the apparent position of any object may be same.if there is no gravity.

it is also possible that these two positions may be as far as many light years..

this troubles the observers but there is a relativity in these apparent positions..it is not that one day u see mars in east and the next day u see in the north.. so it is ok.

this phenomena in all is called the effect of gravity on light..

Akshay Deoras