I was recently at a club and as I stood there watching the laser show it appeared as if plugs of laser light were traveling thru the smoke. They moved from the origin thru the smoke, reflected off of a mirror and where redirected to the opposite end of the room. The "plugs" or "bullets" appeard to be about the size of a can of spray paint. They also appeared to travel about as fast as a bird flying across the room... like I could dodge them if I wanted to. My question is how. How did they appear to travel as bundles and how did they appear to travel at such a slow speed. A typical laser would have shown a solid stream of light either on or not on, right?
2007-01-05 10:12:03 · 1 answers · asked by onewrongstep 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The slugs of light were being drawn from the side, the laser whipping back and forth a few time to paint enough light in one spot for you to see it, then snaping to a new position and stroking there. After painting the slugs, the laser goes back and paints new slugs a few millimeter forward so the blob appears to move slowly.
The effect could not have been done with a laser being pulsed on and off because it would have to be on for half a nanosecond (a nanosecond being a light foot, light moving 1 foot in a nanosecond) and commercially available optical switches do not operate that fast yet - 1 ms being realistic - although research has shown there are materials that can switch faster-as thin films
2007-01-06 16:49:27 · answer #1 · answered by Mike1942f 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋