I don't think it can be proven to your satisfaction since you insist on excluding a receiving device.
That's perfectly comparable to attempting to detect gravity without the use of mass. I don't mean this in
any sort of unkind way, so don't be offended, OK? But both would be a fool's errand since the existence of each is well-known, demonstrable and widely used in thousands of working applications. Would you also try to deny the existence of the sun, it's thermonuclear processes and the radiation it emits? Seems just as (ill)logical to me.
Ok Read only, I see that I have at least 4 posters who think in similar terms about the question. Yep.....hard up against it.....
To be expected I guess.
I would agree that it would be naive as a scientist to accept a theory without ruling out all other possible explanations.
And what I am attempting to discuss is one such possible exception. That our determination of 'c' may very well hold as a value but it is exactly what that value refers to that is in question.
If Em can not be differentiated from an object of mass and there is no way of proving the existence of a photon other than by using an object of mass then I see the belief in a photon as akin to that of a religious belief in divinity who also can only be guaged by his her effect on humanity. [ certainly not his her substance]
It is true that the existing theory about Em is very very pratical and has great utility. There is no doubt of the benefits of holding to this theory. In fact this is why it is hard to get proper responses to this question.
So as it stands regardless of how naive you all think I am the question still remains answered as NO. It is impossible to differentiate between EM and reflector mass.
This is enough for me and I wonder whether it is enough for you?
The next step for me to do is present, when completed, an alternative view of energy transfers. This alternative view includes the notion that distance is only relevant to objects of mass and that distance is non-existant for anything other than objects of mass except with regards to intensity or strength of reflection. That the issue of non-simultaneity as presented by Albert Einteins SRT is false as light does not indeed travel as the distance it needs to travel is non-existant. however for an object of mass distance does indeed exist.
Presenting the alternative is a long way off but I had to again see that the question about differentiation holds true and that Em theory as a whole has yet to be fully validated and proven. Thus lights travelling has yet to be fully proven as fact.
So far all posters to this thread have stated only that the theory is so accepted that it must be true and I find this a little saddening as obviously there is room for doubt. As no one has in 3 years of research been able to show what they hold as true to be in fact true.
So prove to me that light travels without relying only on it's effect on an object of mass and you should be able to do the same for gravity.
If I had a million dollars I would bet that you can not do so.
If you say yes to the question and so what?
I would ask then why believe in a photon at all? Other than it being a useful model. A helpful abstraction and one that can be extremely and negatively influencial in regards to the future of scientific discovery.