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Originally Posted by peacegirl
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spacemonkey
Quote:
Originally Posted by peacegirl
I understand why my answers posit stationary light, and, yes, if what is on the retina is a true mirror image, those photons are not traveling, but that doesn't mean light itself doesn't travel.
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Of course it does. Light just is photons, so if there are ever stationary photons, then light is not always travelling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by peacegirl
In other words, I am not denying the finite speed of light. Do you see why this is so hard to explain and just as hard to grasp, especially when we have been taught from early on that the eyes are a sense organ?  |
If you're now deliberately positing stationary photons, such that the specific photons at the film when the photograph is taken were also there a moment before that, can you tell me how long they've been there for? |
You are still missing an important aspect. White light is always traveling, but if we see efferently we can only see the object when we're looking at it. This is important to understand. White light is constantly being reflected everywhere, but only when a lens is focused on the object can the snapshot (which is a mirror image) of the object be instantly at the film/retina. This image is seen because of the object's absorptive properties and our ability to see in real time. It's the combination of the two that allows this interaction to take place. You can't seem to separate moving photons and what the lens of the eye sees. |
I understand all that just fine. But it doesn't answer my question. You have said the light at the film when the photograph is taken was also there (and therefore stationary) just before the photograph was taken.
So how long have those stationary photons been there? How long have those specific photons been sitting there motionless on the surface of the film? Do these photons ever change their wavelengths while they are stationary at the film?
Suppose those photons have been there stationary at the film since the first moment when the camera lens was focussed upon the object.
Then where were they just before that? (They can't have been at the object, because you've told me the blue photons hitting the object
stay there.)