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Sure, I'm more hung up on the "just shoot some photons into a mirrored box and they'll bounce around forever". That... can't possibly be very close to what they

Sure, I'm more hung up on the "just shoot some photons into a mirrored box and they'll bounce around forever". That... can't possibly be very close to what they actually did, right? This is one of those cases in which the description that makes it to the public has almost nothing to do with what actually happened, surely? Or did they really do that, and if so, how? It seems like it'd fail for a hundred different reasons. That's more interesting than the phenomenon, to me. I watched the video and nothing they showed looks like a mirrored box.

anon_123g987 5y ago
A mirror is an object that reflects an image / light / photons. There are mirrors with different reflectiveness and different construction. In the video the prof says they are using a "highly reflective nanostructured mirror", so it's obviously not exactly your silvered glass bathroom variety mirror, but in principle it's the same: a surface that reflects almost all photons, and absorbs or transmits almost none. The box is also not necessarily like your average shoe box, I'd guess it's much smaller (millimeters), show it's not shown on the video directly, up close.
- ddingus 5y ago
  Seems like the ultimate size would be limited by the reflectivity coefficient too. The speed of the photons makes for a whole lot of reflection events. The stats take over from there. I found the idea of this experiment strangely compelling too. This stuff is hard to begin to understand for most people I would imagine. That is generally true for me. For me, that all translates into an fun and interesting mode of conceptual thought akin to what happens with good sci-fi. Mixing the concepts of gasses and light is novel to me as well, and I suppose that is what makes this one compelling. I wonder whether this idea might be combined with how we have slowed the travel speed of light down many orders? Perhaps the materials forming the mirror box do that? I am going to read this one again (during more normal waking concentration hours) and follow a few of the science rabbit holes the references will surely contain.

anon_123g987 5y ago

A mirror is an object that reflects an image / light / photons. There are mirrors with different reflectiveness and different construction. In the video the prof says they are using a "highly reflective nanostructured mirror", so it's obviously not exactly your silvered glass bathroom variety mirror, but in principle it's the same: a surface that reflects almost all photons, and absorbs or transmits almost none. The box is also not necessarily like your average shoe box, I'd guess it's much smaller (millimeters), show it's not shown on the video directly, up close.

ddingus 5y ago
Seems like the ultimate size would be limited by the reflectivity coefficient too. The speed of the photons makes for a whole lot of reflection events. The stats take over from there. I found the idea of this experiment strangely compelling too. This stuff is hard to begin to understand for most people I would imagine. That is generally true for me. For me, that all translates into an fun and interesting mode of conceptual thought akin to what happens with good sci-fi. Mixing the concepts of gasses and light is novel to me as well, and I suppose that is what makes this one compelling. I wonder whether this idea might be combined with how we have slowed the travel speed of light down many orders? Perhaps the materials forming the mirror box do that? I am going to read this one again (during more normal waking concentration hours) and follow a few of the science rabbit holes the references will surely contain.