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General Science / Light faster than light - sideways?
« on: 16/02/2004 09:24:54 »
I saw a documentary on time travel and one section got me thinking. Imagine a photon bouncing back and forth between 2 mirrors. If you move the mirrors sideways the photon will keep following the same path relative to the mirrors, i.e it will move sideways with the mirrors.
Am I right in thinking that a laser does not bend with movement? If you move a laser around does it "drag" like the water out of a hose or will it keep a straight line?
My thinking is that if it does keep a straight line then what happens if you spin a powerful laser at high RPM? Like a spinning arm the outer section moves faster than the inner section. With an arm of photons stretching out hundreds or thousands of miles and spinning hundreds of times a minute there has to be a point where the photons move sideways faster than they move outwards.
Am I right in thinking that a laser does not bend with movement? If you move a laser around does it "drag" like the water out of a hose or will it keep a straight line?
My thinking is that if it does keep a straight line then what happens if you spin a powerful laser at high RPM? Like a spinning arm the outer section moves faster than the inner section. With an arm of photons stretching out hundreds or thousands of miles and spinning hundreds of times a minute there has to be a point where the photons move sideways faster than they move outwards.