Riding Light for Dummies

Riding Light is a term that might sound a bit confusing at first, so let's break it down and really understand what it means. Picture yourself riding a bicycle on a sunny day, feeling the wind on your face, and the excitement of the ride. You start pedaling, and you feel that the bicycle is getting faster and faster. But have you ever noticed that when you look down, it feels like the tires aren't spinning? That's because as you ride faster, the spinning of the tires becomes so quick that your eyes cannot keep up with it. It's kind of like when you look at the blades of a fan spinning really fast, and they seem to blend together into a blur.

This idea of things moving so fast that they just blend together is similar to what "Riding Light" means. It's in the context of outer space, where there are objects called "particles of light" called photons. These photons travel at an incredibly fast speed, similar to how you ride your bicycle really fast. When they move so quickly, they merge together, just like when you look at the spinning fan blades.

Now, imagine that you and I are standing on a hill, and we see a beam of light coming towards us. If we were to ride alongside that beam of light on our bicycles, it would seem as if the light is staying right next to us, not moving at all. It's like when you ride your bicycle next to a slow-moving train, and it seems like the train isn't moving because you're keeping up with its speed. So, when we ride alongside the beam of light, we call it "Riding Light."

But here's where things get really interesting. According to Albert Einstein, who was a super smart scientist, he discovered that nothing in the universe can travel faster than light. So if we were to ride alongside a beam of light, we can never go faster than it. In fact, our bicycles and even the fastest spaceships that humans have built are no match for the incredible speed of light. It's like trying to catch a superhero who can fly at the speed of light. No matter how fast we go, we can never catch up to them.

So in summary, "Riding Light" means traveling at the same speed as light, and nothing can go faster than it. It's kind of like trying to catch up to a superhero who can fly super fast. No matter how fast we go, we can never catch them. It's a mind-blowing concept, but I hope this explanation helps you understand it better!