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To: Windcatcher
I think this stuff is amazing...space being bent..time being relative...makes my brain hurt...that's why I like it.
You sound like you know stuff about physics.
Hypothetical Question: If someone were to construct a perfect cube container...absolutely symmetrical on each side...and if someone were to construct this box with perfectly polished mirrors are placed on the inner sides...and a flash bulb was inserted into the box...the lid (also a mirror) firmly closed...then *POOF*
The bulb flashes...
Question: What happens to the light? Does it keep bouncing around off the symmetrical mirrors forever? It has no means of escaping the box. Where else can it possibly go?
Wouldn't this create an everlasting light source? :)


I got this idea a few months ago...I think if someone could make one of these boxes with two sided mirrors..ya know, the kind you can see through on one side, with a normal mirror on the other side...If someone can make the cube out of this stuff and flash the light from the inside...wouldn't it be an infinite light source?
Sure, it would probably cost a few thousand to make each cube, but after the initial flash...No electric bills...EVER!;) Can I patent the idea? I may get to it someday..
128 posted on 03/28/2003 9:38:07 PM PST by Capitalism2003
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To: Capitalism2003
You sound like you know stuff about physics.

I have a masters' in Physics. As to your question, it wouldn't work. First, it's not possible to produce mirrors that are *exactly* perfect, both in smoothness and flatness, and the air would at the very least cause the light to be scattered. Also, dust and corrosion would degrade the mirrors' efficiency, and the *instant* something was placed in the path of the light (otherwise, what's the point to it all), it's game over--the light gets absorbed.
130 posted on 03/28/2003 9:44:02 PM PST by Windcatcher ("So what did Doug use?" "He used...sarcasm!")
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To: Capitalism2003
"I got this idea a few months ago...I think if someone could make one of these boxes with two sided mirrors"

There are no perfect mirrors. Every mirror absorbs a small amount of the light it reflects. Very quickly, the light in your box will all be absorbed and converted to heat.

=====================

Mirrors can be made very "good", i.e., very reflective for a single wavelength or set of wavelengths. They are still never 100% reflective.

--Boris

131 posted on 03/28/2003 9:45:35 PM PST by boris (Education is always painful; pain is always educational)
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