Soumendra Nath Thakur
April 17, 2025
One may have misunderstood the fundamental nature of waves. A wave—whether sound or electromagnetic—is always a carrier of energy. It transfers energy from one point to another, regardless of the medium involved. This makes the core properties of all waves the same: they possess frequency, wavelength, energy, and velocity.
If a wave encounters a medium, it may lose energy—this applies to both sound and electromagnetic waves. For instance, sound waves lose energy due to dissipation in air, while electromagnetic waves can lose energy when distorted by external influences such as gravitational or mechanical forces. In this view, a gravitational field acts as an energy-modifying medium for light, just as air does for sound.
Therefore, energy loss is a common feature for both sound and electromagnetic waves. In relativistic interpretations, energy loss in light is often attributed to time dilation. However, similar considerations should apply to sound waves: energy dissipation in air could also be interpreted as a kind of temporal distortion. Thus, time dilation should not be seen as a phenomenon exclusive to light—it can conceptually apply to sound as well when viewed from the standpoint of energy dynamics. Its time distortion.
In essence, frequency, wavelength, energy, and velocity are the intrinsic properties of all waves. These can be altered by environmental or external factors—whether that’s a physical medium like air or a field like gravity.
Moreover, the Lorentz transformation applies to objects moving at speeds approaching the speed of light, but not at the speed of light itself. Therefore, applying time dilation (as derived from Lorentz transformations) directly at the speed of light is inconsistent with the original framework. If relativity states that time ‘stops’ at the speed of light, then invoking time dilation at light speed becomes logically contradictory. Redshift in electromagnetic waves should be recognized as an outcome of energy loss, not merely an effect of time dilation. The redshift of light—like the redshift of sound—reflects changes in energy and frequency, not necessarily changes in the flow of time.
