The internally mirrored sphere, what would happen?

Question

Ok, ever since I was a schoolboy, I always wondered what would happen if you:
1) Created a large hollow sphere made of that mirrored glass (the type you get on mirror-sunglasses) with the mirror surface on the INSIDE such that all the sunlight hitting it goes inside the ball and can't escape because it just bounces around inside.
2) Left the ball out in the sun for ages.
3) Smashed the ball.

Would all the light energy burst out in some all mighty explosion?

(Lets also assume the the glass has some highly non-heat conductive properties too).

Was I an Einstein-like child genius or just some kid without a proper grasp of the laws of thermo dynamics?! ;p

For the avoidance of doubt (i may have given the wrong impression when i said "mirrored surface on the inside"): The glass ball is made of that mirrored glass that allows light rays to enter the ball but not come out).

I should have mentioned that the inside of the ball is a vacuum (to avoid air getting warm and the ball simply cracking open after a while).
Keep the answers coming, I'm genuinley interested :)

Answer 1

The ball would have melted but if you put one of the noble gases -i.e. argon - in the ball then smashed it* there would be a giant ball of laser light rapidly expanding from it destroying anything in it's path so don't do it.
* you would have to shatter the ball into atom sized particles for this to work properly

P.s. You were an evil Einstein-like child genius without a proper grasp of the laws of thermo dynamics.

Answer 2

It is an interesting question, and I'll answer since you say you are genuinely interested. The answer, according to classical optics, is that the light bouncing around inside the sphere would build up until the amount of light lost by the sphere (either by absorption or transmission) equals the amount entering by transmission. By the way, the transmission through a "one-way mirror" is identically the same for the two directions, so if you can get light in, light of the same wavelength can come out. It is only reflection and absorption which can be different from the two sides.

You might ask, however, what would happen if you include a fluorescent material inside the sphere which converts the incoming light to a longer wavelength (different color) which the mirror does not transmit. In that case, the end result depends on which starting assumption fails first.

Answer 3

I have considered this before you asked it, how bizarre... I don't think that sort of material exists, what you speak of is half mirrored glass and when there is a higher concentration of light then it reflects so the ball would appear to reflect the sunlight because it would be darker on the inside. However if such a material did exist then I believe the inside of the sphere would heat up as it would not reflect all the light and therefore not all the energy. I think the sphere would eventually melt, or I suppose the gas (if there is any inside the sphere) might burn up, breaking the sphere. But if you break it, I don't think a lot would happen, I think the energy would disperse pretty quickly and there wouldn't be an explosion. But who knows.

Answer 4

No surface can be 100% reflective. If you shot, say a laser at the most reflective surface possible, the reflected light would be less than the original beam.
There is no material that can allow light in and no light out. If you did create the sphere, you would need a little hole to aim a light source at, then you would have to close it quickly with the light source still shinning at the hole. Theoretically, with a 100% reflective surface and a vacuum inside the sphere, it would bounce around forever, until you broke it. A small flash would be seen, but the light energy would not compound and blow up.

Best answer?

Answer 5

I doubt an explosion would occur, Strondor. 'coz if you must allow sunlight to enter you must have an aperture through which the energy may just as easily exit. Imagine that the light enters at an angle and keeps getting reflected at any random point. One of those random points is bound to be the exit.

More over you are not concentrating the energy or storing it by doing this(if it was ever possible in the first place).

As far as the explosion part is concerned light/photons do not cause much damage when they are not coherent(as in lasers) which is not found in any natural source.

So all-in-all you'd possibly be wasting a lot of money on the 'highly nonconductive glass'.

I think you're just a curious sort with an active brain. :)

Answer 6

If it was a mirror inside, no light would get into it.

A so-called two-way mirror is different - light passes through the reflective side (side A) to the other side (side B) where the observer watches. But light doesn't pass from side B to side A. This is equivalent to outside-to-inside in your sphere.

In reply to your additional details - there isn't a mirror that lets light in but not out. In reflective sunglasses, enough light is reflected to prevent you seeing the eyes behind them, but obviously some goes through, otherwise the wearer wouldn't be able to see! And they're the other way around from your sphere, that's what I was trying to say above. In your sphere, the light enters AND THEN meets the reflective surface when it tries to escape. This would be on the inside of the sunglasses. Fortunately it's a purely theoretical scenario and couldn't happen in reality.

Answer 7

I have seen glass spheres around I would be interested in the outcome.
If the sphere was covered on the inside with a mirror coating like the sun glasses then light could get in would it be like a camera obscure I wander

Answer 8

No it would not explode.

The mirrored material you refer to does not reflect all light, some light gets through which is why you can see when you wear mirrored sunglasses, if they reflected all light they would leave the user sightless.

Your sphere would simply warm up, releasing the light that did not escape in the form of heat.

Answer 9

After your additional details....

The gas inside the sphere would heat-up and pressurise the sphere. If you broke it, there would be some level of explosion, the force of which would depend on the pressure developed.

Good question, but I think your options for self analysis should probably not rest on the Einstein option too much.

Have a nice Sunday.

Answer 10

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