Question:
When lightning strikes afar off, we see the light almost instantly and the sound waves race at different speeds to us with the shortest wavelengths first (crackle sound) and then the rest in a rolling sound as each frequency reaches the ear one after another with lower and lower pitch until the largest wavelength finally finishes the race. This makes sense because Speed=Distance/Time. The shortest wavelength travels less distance to the ear because it’s journey is closer to a straight line. The largest wavelength travels more distance because it must ascend and descend a good distance before making much forward motion. If the electro-magnetic spectrum includes large wavelength radio waves, medium wavelength visible light, and very short wavelength gamma rays, then why does it not follow that light must travel at varying speeds and not constant. If gamma rays and radio waves both were moving at 186,000mi/sec wouldn’t the radio waves be slower than the gamma rays since Speed=Distance/Time. The radio waves takes a longer journey than the gamma ray because the wavelengths are the photons ascending and descending and not moving purely forward at 186,000mi/sec. If we do observe all of the spectrum being constant at the same speed, wouldn’t that mean that radio waves move faster than gamma rays to make up for the greater ascension and descension? If all light is constant in speed then isn’t all light moving faster than the speed of light because 186,000mi/s (I assume) is the speed of light from point A to point B in a straight line in a vacuum? Light must be traveling faster than that figure to make up the extra distance, right?
