This may be a long-shot, but heat bends light right? and light can bend the space/time continuum, hence, heat can bend the space/time continuum, right?
Does this make any sense to you guys or it sounds like a huge amount of BS?
Three answers:
oldprof
2010-12-29 10:50:58 UTC
Actually you've hit upon an interesting fact. A heated object, all other things equal, weighs more than the same object when it is cool. In fact, according to the general theory of relativity, in addition to matter (mass), the space-time geometry can also be warped by energy and stress (pressure).
In his easy to read "The Fabric of the Cosmos," Brian Greene spends some time on the three causes of space-time deformation. Of course, the warps due to energy and stress are minimal compared to what occurs from the presence of mass. And in all but the most sensitive of cases, they can be ignored.
I think my point is clear. Yep, heat can bend space time which results in gravitational effects we normally attribute to mass. But as the other answer put it, mirages and such are not due to the bending of space time. They are due to variations in air density caused by heat differentials, that form lens like characteristics that make images wobble and move. Without the air, there would be no wobbles.
aubrette
2016-11-09 10:09:56 UTC
Bending Space Time Continuum
michel rohmberger
2010-12-29 07:14:34 UTC
Heat does not bend light. If what you mean is like mirage it is the air with different densities caused by heat that bends (technically called diffracts) light. If there is no air (vacuum) light does not diffract.
It is only mass that bends space/time continuum. According general relativity theory bent space/time continuum called gravity.
ⓘ
This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.