if you had a box mirrored inside with a light bulb in the centre.after turning the light out will it stay lit?

Question

if you had a hightly polished mirrored sides inside a box, with a light bulb in the centre. after turning the light out will it stay light inside ?

Answer 1

As a gedanken experiment (thought experiment), yes. That is, if all the mirrors are perfect, etc. then the light would continue bouncing until the box was opened.

As a practical matter, no.

Aloha

Answer 2

Yes, but the light intensity will decay exponentially. All mirrors absorb. An ordinary Al mirror is about 91% reflective throughout the visible. The best mirrors are about 99% reflective, but the high reflectivity is over limited spectral ranges. If the reflectivity is R, then after n reflections the intensity will decay to R^n of the initial value in a time na/c seconds, where a is the distance between the mirrors. I am neglecting absorption and scattering from the light bulb here. The rate of decay is very sensitive to the absorption in the cavity. If you want to learn more look up cavity ring down spectroscopy.

Answer 3

If the mirrors were of telescope quality and reflected 98% of the light that hit them, the light would disappear in less than 1 second. Even if the mirrors reflected 100% of the light, it would disappear if very short order due to absorption by the air (discounting the light bulb) in the box.

Answer 4

Dear John 1,

No, the box will not stay lit. First, the reason is that even the best mirrors absorb some of the light. Secondly, because light has wave properties, you observe wave cancellation as energy departs and the waves fall out of synchrony.

Answer 5

It is only possible theoretically, as the mirrors are not 100% reflective and the bulb itself is not a mirror. So when the light hits back the bulb it will not be reflected back and it will be dark inside...

Answer 6

Theoretically, it should, but in order for it to remain lit, there would have to be no gaps in the seams between the mirrors, and they would have to reflect 100% of the light transmitted, and the light bulb itself would have to be mirrored to prevent the light bulb and apparatus from absorbing the light, and all of this is nearly impossible. But theoretically it is possible.

Answer 7

No as a mirror merely reflects existing light, the source must remain for the reflection to remain. A mirror does not create light, merely redirects the beam in whatever mode of refraction or reflection it can depending on its shape.

Answer 8

gentle waves = power waves (merely like radio waves, x-rays, infrared, and so on). If the contemplate the interior have been thoroughly and entirely one hundred% reflective and the container replaced into below a vaccum (i.e., no air or any rely floating around) then the respond could be sure. even however, all mirrors soak up some gentle (i.e., are no longer one hundred% reflective) and then turn it into warmth the comparable way your motor vehicle absorbs photograph voltaic and gets warm. Junk floating around in the air (alongside with air itself) absorbs gentle and turns it into warmth besides. So, ultimately the reflect/air absorbs all the gentle and turns it into warmth, leaving in trouble-free terms darkness.

Answer 9

the problem is that even if the morror did reflect at 100%, light is affected by gravity, and also to a point, friction, and as such, it would dissapate into heat rather quickly, as air would asorb some of the energy.

thats why on some days ariport lights rach farther than other nights, its how the air asorbs and transmits them.

Answer 10

Yes, if the light doesn't change to another form of energy.
However, this is unlikely to happen and so the box will become dark.