[Seany (OP)]

OK.. My science teacher said that there is a special substance, gas, that can slow down the speed of light..

Is this true? And what benefits, disadvantages can the invention of this do?

[daveshorts]

Most things slow down the speed of light, glass will slow it down by a factor of 1.5 to 2,  diamond by a factor of about 2.5, this is actually why light refracts see the dissappearing pyrex experiment:

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/kitchenscience/exp/making-pyrex-invisible/

There have been some exotic materials made with much higher refractive indexes at a certain wavelength so light will travel at only a few m/s, but these generally have to be powered with laser light at another wavelength and are very complex.

[_Stefan_]

I read about a 'cloud' of gass that could 'freeze' photons for a period of time. Something about using this in quantum computers.

[lightarrow]

I read about a 'cloud' of gass that could 'freeze' photons for a period of time. Something about using this in quantum computers.

Yes, it's true! It seems possible to "freeze" single photons and store them! Physicists are studying this, with Bose-Einstein Condensates.

[dentstudent]

I read about a 'cloud' of gass that could 'freeze' photons for a period of time. Something about using this in quantum computers.

Yes, it's true! It seems possible to "freeze" single photons and store them!

Would that make it a light snack?

[lightarrow]

I read about a 'cloud' of gass that could 'freeze' photons for a period of time. Something about using this in quantum computers.

Yes, it's true! It seems possible to "freeze" single photons and store them!

Would that make it a light snack?

Absolutely!  []

[Seany (OP)]

Heeheee.... I wonder what light particles look like?