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Light so Fast it Travels Backward
An anonymous reader writes "Slowing down light used to be considered a neat trick for physics wonks. But researchers in New York now say they've pushed light into reverse. And as if to defy common sense, the backward-moving light travels faster than light." While there's not much use to come of it yet, it will be interesting if Einstein himself is proved wrong.
Stupid Science Stories ==> Lucy & the football
We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are.
-- Anais Nin
.gnola evoM .ereh ees ot uoy rof gnihtoN
I've done this too, it's called 'a mirror'.
TK
So, basically, what scientists have shown is that reverse light (darkness) is faster than light!
My patience is infinite, my time is not.
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Perhaps this interesting effect could be used somehow to cause light-speed spam to reverse upon itself, causing spammer inboxes to convert to pure energy, which in turn annihilates the spammers.
Hey, a fellow can dream, can't he now?
A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
Well, the article says the light comes out the other end before the putting-in end has light going in, so that it goes backwards through the fiber (from the end it came out of, towards the end it came into).
What if you are about to put the photon in, and it comes out of the fiber at the other end, but you change your mind and don't put it into the going in end?
I can't wait to harness this technology. I'll be able to make First Posts without actually having to be the first poster. I will rule Slashdot!!!
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
The first story was rushed out so fast it hasn't gotten here yet.
They got Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick the regular light until it started moving backward!
The Matrix must be using two's complement arithmetic and the overflow must not've been caught.
"No one likes working in a hamster wheel, and your shop smells of cedar shavings from here." - TaleSpinner
This was posted next week.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
This does not disprove Einstein's theory, it only exposes a flaw in the implementation. For some reason the idiot who implemented it didn't use a large enough data-type to store c, causing it to overflow in certain situations.
- These characters were randomly selected.
How will this help in the developement of the lightsaber?
Finally! An explanation of how spinner rims can appear to be moving backwards while the wheels are turning the other direction!
" But researchers in New York now say they've pushed light into reverse. "
Ah, when I were a lad, back in the days before this backwards superluminal light was deeply researched it was known more commonly as reflection.
That's very funny, but we heard you the first time.
There's a Starman, waiting in the sky / He'd like to come and meet us, but he hasn't got the time.
Whatever happened to just going 88mph?
and skrew you coldplay for making 'speed of sound'.
;-)
If I had mod points, I'd be unsure whether to mod this up +1 Informative or +1 Funny.
What could possibly hurt the security of the American people more than giving our own government the ability to hide its
... 'bet they didn't see that coming' gag?! :)
-- "Can't sleep, clowns will eat me!"
For years it has been believed that electric bulbs emitted light. However, recent information from Bell Labs has proven otherwise. Electric bulbs don't emit light, they suck dark. Thus they now call these bulbs dark suckers. The dark sucker theory, according to a Bell Labs spokesperson, proves the existence of dark, that dark has mass heavier than that of light, and that dark is faster than light.
The basis of the dark sucker theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. Take for example, the dark suckers in the room where you are. There is less dark right next to them than there is elsewhere. The larger the dark sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark. Dark suckers in a parking lot have a much greater capacity than the ones in this room. As with all things, dark suckers don't last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the black spot on a full dark sucker. A candle is a primitive dark sucker. A new candle has a white wick. You will notice that after the first use, the wick turns black, representing all the dark which has been sucked into it. If you hold a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, the tip will turn black because it got in the path of the dark flowing into the candle.
Unfortunately, these primitive dark suckers have a very limited range. There are also portable dark suckers. The bulbs in these can't handle all of the dark by themselves, and must be aided by a dark storage unit. When the dark storage unit is full, it must be either emptied or replaced before the portable dark sucker can operate again.
Dark has mass. When dark goes into a dark sucker, friction from this mass generates heat. Thus it is not wise to touch an operating dark sucker. Candles present a special problem, as the dark must travel in the solid wick instead of through glass. This generates a great amount of heat. Thus it can be very dangerous to touch an operating candle. Dark is also heavier than light. If you swim deeper and deeper, you notice it gets slowly darker and darker. When you reach a depth of approximately fifty feet, you are in total darkness. This is because the heavier dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats to the top. The immense power of dark can be utilized to mans advantage. We can collect the dark that has settled to the bottom of lakes and push it through turbines, which generate electricity and help push it to the ocean where it may be safely stored. Prior to turbines, it was much more difficult to get dark from the rivers and lakes to the ocean. The Indians recognized this problem, and tried to solve it. When on a river in a canoe travelling in the same direction as the flow of the dark, they paddled slowly, so as not to stop the flow of dark, but when they traveled against the flow of dark, they paddled quickly so as to help push the dark along its way.
Finally, we must prove that dark is faster than light. If you were to stand in an illuminated room in front of a closed, dark closet, then slowly open the closet door, you would see the light slowly enter the closet, but since the dark is so fast, you would not be able to see the dark leave the closet.
In conclusion, Bell Labs stated that dark suckers make all our lives much easier. So the next time you look at an electric bulb remember that it is indeed a dark sucker.
http://www.siliconhell.com/humour/darksucker.htm
Cubert: That's impossible. You can't go faster than the speed of light. Prof Farnsworth: Of course not. That's why scientists increased the speed of light in 2208. Cubert: Also impossible.