1300°

Scientists drag light by slowing it to speed of sound

UOG - "Scientists at the University of Glasgow have, for the first time, been able to drag light by slowing it down to the speed of sound and sending it through a rotating crystal."

GodsHand4916d ago

"Most people may think the speed of light is constant, but this is only the case in a vacuum, such as space, where it travels at 671million mph"

So what is the speed of sound in a vacuum, lol.

toaster4916d ago

Zero, sound waves can't travel through a vacuum. So basically every single sci-fi movie with huge explosions in space are lying to you!!

Kurylo3d4916d ago

Sound travels by vibrating whats in the air... this is why u can hear sound through walls.. walls can vibrate as well...

Problem with space is .. its empty and nothing to vibrate.

Vortex3D4916d ago

If ships fire projectile ammo, you will hear from inside the ship as friction generates sound. The ship that got hit by projectile ammo also will hear the explosion inside the ship.

As with movies, audiences don't want to sit through silent movie while watching the battle in space. So movie makers have to add sound in space so that audiences will get excited watching the scene.

Speed-Racer4916d ago

Ya exactly. Most airports have glass and middle insulation is that is so thick, that sound can't vibrate it nearly enough for it to pass through, hence you barely hear a 747 or 777 taking off even when the runway is pretty close by

Gregard4916d ago

One of the reasons I loved the firefly series! All the space scenes were void of sound effects :)

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4916d ago
michass84916d ago

what about speeding it up :)

UnSelf4916d ago

cant. the only thing that can travel faster than the speed of light is the expansion of space of itself.

reason why u cant travel faster than the speed of light is because the closer u approach the speed of light the more mass you need to sustain it. theres no such thing as infinite mass therefore you cant pass the speed of light.

Photons, what light is made up of, has no mass

fatstarr4916d ago

what about black holes? ive read somewhere that they are faster than light because light cant escape a black hole.

UnSelf4916d ago

in the practical sense there is nothing that can go faster than light in a vacuum.

however there are some very unique cases where scientists have made light travel faster than the speed of light however no information was transferred in the process.

i dnt know the too much about the details in these cases

Panthers4916d ago

Isnt it also true that the faster you travel, the slower time flows relative to you, and if you reach the speed of light, time stops.

As for the black whole, the reason light cannot escape it is because its gravitational pull is so massive, it actually pulls light back down, just like Earth does with us.

user13374916d ago

Black holes aren't "faster" than light. They have a gravitational pull that is too strong for even light to escape.

InTheZoneAC4916d ago

earlier a post said light is made up of photons with no mass, how does gravity pull on something with no mass?

aaaaaaaaa4916d ago

gravity can bend light in a vacuum so gravity can pull light in a vacuum that is unless light has a terminal velocity in a vacuum
hang on im thinking, ouch brain strain

UnSelf4916d ago (Edited 4916d ago )

because gravity isnt pulling on the photon, its pulling or "bending" the space around the area. anything that falls within that space gets pulled on regardless of its own characteristics

photons travel through space, and a black hole bends space so greatly that anything that crosses its event horizon (the point where gravity grabs u and u cant escape) it automatically gets sucked in

the thing about gravity is, it isnt something tangible even on a quantum scale. gravity is the result of space bending. it isnt something we can capture, thats why it affects everything. of all the forces in nature, gravity is the only one that acts as such. any and everything else can be altered but gravity is always constant given the mass, volume and density of an object. thats why it doesnt have to "pull" on a photon, it simply bends the space around the photon and the photon goes where the space bends the most. a black hole bends space the most

@below

ur link doesnt work, but what about them? in fact Gravitional lenses help prove my point. Those are used to detect gravity's affect on light coming in form distant galaxies

aaaaaaaaa4916d ago (Edited 4916d ago )

@unself

ok fair point what about Gravitational lens from galaxies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

link fixed

@above so gravity can bend light? PM me please

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4916d ago
aaaaaaaaa4916d ago (Edited 4916d ago )

DP sorry

HxCGamer4916d ago

double pentration?!?!

im down

ilikestuff4916d ago

your thought process.. i love it

MisfitSmurf4916d ago

Anyone else gets the feeling the world is going to end due to experiments scientist do ?

madjedi4916d ago

Short of testing a giant anti-matter bomb scientists no, wacko's with access to wmds likely yes.

Mnemonic-DK4916d ago

Isn't this old news?

Professor Lene V. Hau at Harvard slowed light to a complete stop using a Bose-Einstein condensate years ago: http://www.seas.harvard.edu...

But maybe the news is related to the "rotating crystal"?

Mnemonic-DK4916d ago

A disagree for what? That the news is related to the "rotating crystal"?

According to the American Institute of Physics light was slowed back in 2001: http://www.aip.org/pnu/2001...

So what is new in the experiment from Scotland?

Please comment instead of just clicking "disagree".

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