Light is an electromagnetic wave, so why can't magnets bend

Light is an electromagnetic wave, so why can't magnets bend sunbeams?


21 April 2021
Ron Dippold
San Diego, California, US
The short answer is that only charged particles like electrons or protons are bent when travelling through magnetic fields. Electromagnetic radiation is made up of uncharged photons, so is unaffected. There are two caveats, however.
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The first is if you had a ridiculously strong magnetic field, like those near neutron stars called magnetars. This would warp space itself and the light would follow that curved space. But in this case, you wouldn’t be directly bending the light – and you would be dead anyway. The ultra-strong magnetic field or the astounding output of X-ray and gamma-ray radiation from a magnetar would kill you.

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