Scientists Stop Light in 'Trapped Rainbow'

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Scientist have figured out a way to (according to the article) bring beams of light to a screeching halt using some kind of special material that separates the light, creating a “trapped rainbow.”

To bring light to a stop from its usual approximately 670 million mph (1.08 billion km/h) pace is no easy feat, and scientists have been working on the problem for years in hopes of revolutionizing how information is stored and sent.
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That's very interesting stuff for sure, though I'm sure it's years away from making an inpact on technology as we know it.
 
Now that they found the end of the rainbow can anyone confirm there isn't a pot of gold there? :D

Harnessing the power of light is the first step to many things to come. I can see another aspect of light control... lightspeed hyperdrive.

Granted, it might not be around for some couple decades or three.. lol
 
Light cannot be stopped. It is always going the same speed, no matter what. I hate when articles say this because it's so terribly incorrect, but I suppose it's easier to explain to people that you "stopped" light than it is to explain that you stopped the wave front. So it goes.
 
mpsmith said:
Light cannot be stopped. It is always going the same speed, no matter what. I hate when articles say this because it's so terribly incorrect, but I suppose it's easier to explain to people that you "stopped" light than it is to explain that you stopped the wave front. So it goes.
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So is this still a big deal, in stopping the wave front?
 
Stopping light is easy.

Shine flashlight at wall. Put hand in front of flashlight.

There, didn't need no stinkin' rainbow :)
 
So. . . would this explain why my day is going by so damn slow.
 
So how much longer will it be before they can make this into some sort of light saber based technology?
 
TechLarry said:
Stopping light is easy.

Shine flashlight at wall. Put hand in front of flashlight.

There, didn't need no stinkin' rainbow :)
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Only if you don't see whatever it is the flashlight is shining on...aka pitch black.

But you knew that didn't you ;)
 
Black hole: the ultimate light stopper, bender and reverser.
 
How do they know if the light was stopped? If they can see the light as being stopped, then the light is not stopped and escaping to be received by their eye.
 
mpsmith said:
Light cannot be stopped. It is always going the same speed, no matter what. I hate when articles say this because it's so terribly incorrect, but I suppose it's easier to explain to people that you "stopped" light than it is to explain that you stopped the wave front. So it goes.
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umm, wrong...
 
mcravenufo said:
How do they know if the light was stopped? If they can see the light as being stopped, then the light is not stopped and escaping to be received by their eye.
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maybe the 'rainbow' they saw was only visible to them due to other light reflecting off the 'stopped' rainbow?
 
I stop light every time I switch it off.

Man there just has been no exciting miracle news since Jesus made wine.
 
Why do the titles of the various [H] front page news lead to a page with exactly the same thing on it? wouldn't it be better if the title link went to the actual thing the news was about?
 
Oh yeah :)

There's another problem, though.

We all know that Lights to not emit light. They actually suck darkness...

RoffleCopter said:
Only if you don't see whatever it is the flashlight is shining on...aka pitch black.

But you knew that didn't you ;)
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Why do they talk about how scientist have figured out how to stop light only to then go on and talk about it as if this is just on paper and hasn't actually been done yet? Have they actaully got it working or have they just came up with what they think is a great idea?

mcravenufo, I was thinking the same thing. How do you see stopped light? Guess its time to go learn more about physics so that this makes more sense. :(
 
The speed of light is as follows:
187,000 miles/second.
11,220,000 miles/minute
673,200,000 miles/hour
16,156,800,000 miles/day
113,097,600,000 miles/week
5,881,075,200,000 miles/year
 
another fun fact.. the stars you see in the night sky are stars that existed hundreds or thousands or even millions of years ago.
 
Exavior said:
mcravenufo, I was thinking the same thing. How do you see stopped light? Guess its time to go learn more about physics so that this makes more sense. :(
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Yeah, math and science goes way out there when it comes to stuff like this. It's probably not really about "seeing" light stop, but can probably be calculated in some way, predicting this result.

For example, "dark matter" makes up most of the mass in the universe, yet we can't observe it directly. Even our everyday atoms can't be directly observed, but the amount of things we've accomplished through the "atomic theory" is undeniable.
 
mcravenufo said:
How do they know if the light was stopped? If they can see the light as being stopped, then the light is not stopped and escaping to be received by their eye.
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And here I was thinking that light traveled at different speeds in different mediums. :rolleyes:
 
mpsmith said:
Light cannot be stopped. It is always going the same speed, no matter what. I hate when articles say this because it's so terribly incorrect, but I suppose it's easier to explain to people that you "stopped" light than it is to explain that you stopped the wave front. So it goes.
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And here I was thinking that light traveled at different speeds in different mediums. :rolleyes:


(I hate the lack of an edit button...)
 
Azhar said:
Now that they found the end of the rainbow can anyone confirm there isn't a pot of gold there? :D

Harnessing the power of light is the first step to many things to come. I can see another aspect of light control... lightspeed hyperdrive.

Granted, it might not be around for some couple decades or three.. lol
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I think we are at least a few centuries away from lightspeed space travel.Heck,were not even type one yet,forget about type two.
 
knight3058 said:
The speed of light is as follows:
187,000 miles/second.
11,220,000 miles/minute
673,200,000 miles/hour
16,156,800,000 miles/day
113,097,600,000 miles/week
5,881,075,200,000 miles/year
Click to expand...

1,802,000,000,000 furlongs per fortnight.
 
DeFex said:
Why do the titles of the various [H] front page news lead to a page with exactly the same thing on it? wouldn't it be better if the title link went to the actual thing the news was about?
Click to expand...

I complained about this in the help board. According to Kyle it's by design since we're supposed to be reading the front page not the forum to get the news. :rolleyes:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1227680
 
don't forget:
3.00 x 10^8 m/s
or
C= (lambda)(nu)

for thoose who are in chemistry...grr....


hey I only failed one test...on solutions..And I have a B still...
 
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