1

If photons going c have no local time or distance 'perception' why isn't the same true for us as we're going c relative to them?

2 Answers2

1

Because we are not. Photons do not have a frame of reference and therefore we do not move at the speed of light with respect to them.

This is also the reason why it does not make sense to ask questions like "What does a photon see?" or "How fast does time pass for a photon?".

0

The idea of "relative to a photon" implies that a photon has a rest frame. A rest frame of some object is a reference frame in which the object's velocity is zero.

One of the key axioms of special relativity is that light moves at c in all reference frames. The rest frame of a photon would require the photon to be at rest (velocity=0) and moving at c (velocity=299792458 m/s).

That of course is contradictory. In other words, the concept of a photon's rest frame doesn't make sense.

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=511170

DaleSpam
  • 127