if a room was made entirely of mirrors, with every internal surface being 100% reflective, then a light was turned on and then off again, would the light keep reflecting around and never go out?
2006-12-07 22:19:59 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
I hope someone more savvy in the Physics of electromagnetic quanta will have a look at this interesting question. It occurs to me that the light may degrade to longer wavelengths such as invisible infrared, over time just as energy from the Big Bang has degraded to a faint microwave background.
2006-12-08 03:00:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Light travels. But it doesn't stay in a room of mirrors or reflective surfaces. Light is reflection!
2006-12-07 22:24:47 · answer #2 · answered by LucySD 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
okay, now you couldnt really bypass right into a room lined with mirrors and shine a laser and anticipate the completed room to fill up, for most motives (youre interior the way of a minimum of one million different instructions the gentle may might want to vacation). yet when there have been a splendidly round room lined with a splendidly reflective reflect, interior which there turned right into a perfect vacuum and also you by some skill were given a beam of light to "commence" in there and not using a source to intrude with the reflections, theoretically it may bounce round always, yet that brings up the cat interior the field theory of quantum mechanics, technically, it truly is going to be bouncing round and by no skill bouncing round at the same time till you really note it so that you need to by no skill quite understand
2016-11-24 22:45:26 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, dont think so. I see where you are going with this, because light travels in a straight line. but u did not say where u are when all this is going on? in the room? also wearing reflective clothing???
2006-12-07 22:23:57 · answer #4 · answered by Gabriel N 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they were perfect mirrors then yes. But there's a downside. As soon as you look to check it is still going you need to absorb the light to see it. The only reason light does not carry on forever is that it is absorbed.
2006-12-07 23:27:48 · answer #5 · answered by Rich 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Definitely not, light travels so fast that it would disappear as soon as the light was turned off. You can't have light without a light source
2006-12-07 22:37:20 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you could put 2 mirrors exactly parallel to each other,then it may happen.but not for long, because the light travel by wave , and as you know it needs energy so after a very short time (because of its very high velocity) it will lose energy and you can not see it any more
2006-12-08 01:02:37 · answer #7 · answered by Bahram E(IGS TEAM) 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the light would continue to reflect for a moment until the energy was lost into the surrounding area as other types of energy such as heat.
2006-12-07 22:25:06 · answer #8 · answered by snape jnr 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hehe no. Its only repeating images so if you turned the light off all the images in the mirrors would go off. There is no delay reaction on it. Good question though. x
2006-12-07 22:27:21 · answer #9 · answered by ms_jaffa_cake 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Without a constant source of light it would eventually disappear. And when I say eventually, I mean you could calculate this by distance for it to travel and the speed of light. ie it wouldn't last long enough for the naked eye to notice it.
2006-12-07 22:32:01 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋