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Discussion » Questions » Science and Technology » Do you think it would be possible to trap light in a mirror box? Mirrors on the inside, of course.
Element 99

Do you think it would be possible to trap light in a mirror box? Mirrors on the inside, of course.

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Posted - July 25, 2021
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Responses


  • 53519

     

      Er, um, this is unfair to trap us into trying to give the correct answer, RETIRED SCIENCE TEACHER! Grrrrrrr. 


    ~

      July 25, 2021 6:32 PM MDT
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  • 17612
    I typed an answer but erased it.  I don't think it could be right and I can't stand the idea of missing a science question. 
      July 26, 2021 12:14 PM MDT
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  • 53519

     

      Good points, but if light has a source, especially a power source, and the light itself cannot generate or regenerate that power on its own, once the light is trapped, it seems to me that it’s cut off from its source, and/or from its power. That would cause the light to extinguish, right? I don’t know if light that no longer exists is still properly defined as trapped light once it dies inside of a mirror box. 


       Grrrrrrr, Professor, see what you’ve made me do?
    ~

      July 26, 2021 12:19 PM MDT
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  • 53519
    Oops! I typed the above reply to your original answer, Thriftymaid, and posted it just as you were changing over. I’m glad I had it saved!
    ~ 
     
      July 26, 2021 12:24 PM MDT
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  • 44645
    Yeah...think.  If you shine a short pulse of light into space, even when you turn it off, it will continue to travel. The farthest galaxies are visible at 13 billion light years, which means they are 13 billion light years further out. We will never know if they winked out. We know of no mirrors that reflect 100% of light. Even if the light shined into the box made of the the most perfect mirrors, where 99.9999% of the light is reflected, the light would rapidly dissipate as it is going 300 million meters per second.
      July 26, 2021 3:32 PM MDT
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  • 3013
    Schrodinger's cat must be in the box during the capture. The reflection of the light in the eyes of the cat will linger just long enough to claim success.  Of course this is just conjecture unless you are also in the box with the cat and can report back.  You must be able to measure the tiniest amount of lingering light.  
      July 26, 2021 6:16 PM MDT
    1