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December, 2024

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Mirror Room

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Cappadonna
Posts: 61 - Karma: 138
Theoretically would light infinitely bounce, in a room made of perfect mirrors?
Nov 13 2013 11:01PM
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danderson.
Posts: 6560 - Karma: 5,252
I don't know. Let me reflect on that for a second.
Nov 13 2013 11:02PM
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Olimar
Posts: 3537 - Karma: 4,077
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Nov 13 2013 11:03PM
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bnewbs6
Posts: 1919 - Karma: 1,463
You just won NS for the night.
Nov 13 2013 11:04PM
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Cappadonna
Posts: 61 - Karma: 138
What I meant was, if you were to be inside a room made up of perfect mirrors and there is no light source, except a flashlight, when you turned the flashlight off, would the light infinitely bounce off the mirrors forever? or would it bounce off the mirrors until your body absorbed all of the light.
Nov 13 2013 11:07PM
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youngdtay
Posts: 3122 - Karma: -112
The light would be absorbed by the flashlight's casing unless the flashlight is also a perfect mirror.
Nov 13 2013 11:17PM
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Cappadonna
Posts: 61 - Karma: 138
Ok, but lets say we could just turn on the flashlight and then somehow have it disappear along with yourself, then would the light be infinite?
Nov 13 2013 11:20PM
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iFlip
Posts: 4544 - Karma: 19,145
Good question, certainly not one to be taken lightly.
Nov 13 2013 11:21PM
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Byron_tha_gr8
Posts: 4573 - Karma: 14,299
this is an interesting question, but the answer is if everything in the room was a perfect mirror, it would always bounce. however the only way to observe this would be with a non perfect mirror of some kind, (a lens, your eyeball, which is also a lens) so you could never observe it. kind of like absolute zero. Its possible, and maybe already happened, but the only way to measure it heats the substance above absolute zero.
Nov 13 2013 11:22PM
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Cappadonna
Posts: 61 - Karma: 138
Couldnt you just use a 2 way mirror to observe it? Im not sure if 2 way mirrors can be perfect though
Nov 13 2013 11:23PM
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Byron_tha_gr8
Posts: 4573 - Karma: 14,299
they can't since some of the light has to pass through to be observed by us. So while from the inside it might appear perfect to humans, its not. In fact simply creating a truly perfect mirror might be impossible.
Nov 13 2013 11:25PM
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Cappadonna
Posts: 61 - Karma: 138
Well then... I guess ill just keep on wondering. lol
Nov 13 2013 11:26PM
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remove
Posts: 2566 - Karma: 1,026
In a mirrored room, odds are I'd be doing too much coke to care
Nov 13 2013 11:30PM
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J_BISCHOF
Posts: 2082 - Karma: 1,449
here's a question, if someone is born blind, what do they see in their dreams?
Nov 13 2013 11:33PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 52038 - Karma: 167,230
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Nov 13 2013 11:42PM
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broto
Posts: 9040 - Karma: 25,665
no dude bcuz how are you gonna get the light in there if you put a lamp in the middle the lamp will absorb the light if you make a hol in the wall 4 the light to come through then the light will leave through the hole if you try to shut the hole really quik it dosnt matter light is too fast it will leave you can't just keep light in a room forever man light has rights what did it do to you give you plant life and then animals ad everything selflessly just so u could live a happy lif man think about the implications of something like this how wouold you like to trapped in a room bouncing off of shit forever it would be like being chicken thigh getting battered only it doesn't stop when the chicken is properly battered man plus
Nov 13 2013 11:46PM
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broto
Posts: 9040 - Karma: 25,665
no dude bcuz how are you gonna get the light in there if you put a lamp in the middle the lamp will absorb the light if you make a hol in the wall 4 the light to come through then the light will leave through the hole if you try to shut the hole really quik it dosnt matter light is too fast it will leave you can't just keep light in a room forever man light has rights what did it do to you give you plant life and then animals ad everything selflessly just so u could live a happy lif man think about the implications of something like this how wouold you like to trapped in a room bouncing off of shit forever it would be like being chicken thigh getting battered only it doesn't stop when the chicken is properly battered man plus
Nov 13 2013 11:46PM
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Cappadonna
Posts: 61 - Karma: 138
If you were born blind you only dream in auditory, while if you were born with full sight but went blind at a young age, then you dream normally. It depends on how much you have seen, the more you see the more you dream.
Nov 13 2013 11:47PM
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Cappadonna
Posts: 61 - Karma: 138
It was a hypothetical situation man. No need to get your panties in a bunch
Nov 13 2013 11:50PM
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coling
Posts: 1086 - Karma: -3
Theoretically yes but in practice it will be difficult as has been discussed
Nov 13 2013 11:57PM
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Rafiki
Posts: 3858 - Karma: 2,251
98% related, this is what pictures look like in a box where all interior walls are made of mirrors

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Nov 14 2013 12:17AM
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coling
Posts: 1086 - Karma: -3
Btw lasers use two mirrored surfaces to reflect light back and forth without being absorbed
Nov 14 2013 12:20AM
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Troy.
Posts: 5070 - Karma: 12,549
See: Schrödinger's cat
Nov 14 2013 12:23AM
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Bart.Man
Posts: 1742 - Karma: 1,952
This might provide some insight

Nov 14 2013 12:31AM
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,297
Laser is light stimulated by emission of radiation. You excite the source, it emits a photon, the photon is absorbed by another molec/atom of the source and reemitted. This keeps happening, the beams gets all collimated, monochromatic and awesome, then it bounces out of the source. The source material is a very specific shape to allow this.

Light decays as it travels. If you could somehow circumvent that, and the mirrors reflected all of it, then sure why not. But good luck trying to make light that doesn't get weaker as time goes on and a surface that absorbs no light at all or otherwise does not change the photon energy.

The idea of not being able to observe such an event is interesting too. It does seem to be the case the measurement changes the outcome of the system. Unless the hypothetical two way perfect mirror was constructed, which makes no sense, but that's why theory is fun.
Nov 14 2013 12:40AM
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Granby_killdozer
Posts: 2395 - Karma: -12,219
damn, you beat me to it
Nov 14 2013 12:10PM
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