if there were a perfect spherical ball with a mirror interior and there were a light source inside. then that light source went off the light should keep bouncing off the mirroir forever right?
2007-03-22 03:12:03 · 5 answers · asked by It's Ray 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Not really. The mirrors are not 100% reflective. Some of the energy is absorbed with every reflection. It would go out almost instantly.
2007-03-22 03:15:41 · answer #1 · answered by Gene 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the mirror was a resonance cavity,like a reverse opal the light could remain in an accelerated state indefinitely.
The explanation by Ray about the mirror is correct.
2007-03-22 03:20:13 · answer #2 · answered by Billy Butthead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope, your light would eventually go out because the mirror could not be 100% reflective, and then you would find that the temperature of the sphere had gone up very slightly (photon energy converted to heat energy).
2007-03-22 03:28:37 · answer #3 · answered by H_A_V_0_C 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
mirrors don't reflect 100% of the light, so eventually the photons will still be lost.
But yes theoretically if u had a perfect mirror than you should have trapped all the light inside the ball.
2007-03-22 03:16:39 · answer #4 · answered by The Machine 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In principle, yes. But in fact the light would be absorbed by the light bulb, which itself is not reflective.
2007-03-22 03:16:48 · answer #5 · answered by Gnomon 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋