Bending light?

chem

Hi all. Was wondering about bending light. I know stars can bend light, and chemicals have a refractive index etc. But can light be bent 360 degrees?

What chemical has the highest refractive index? Could different solns be used, one placed infront of the other. So as to bend a beam of light 360 degrees?

Might be an interesting experiment!

FarmerGreen

Optical fibre is nice and bendy.

Morbert

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_index_metamaterials

Fringe

What do you mean 360 degrees? Isn't that just traveling straight?

ChocolateSauce

If light was revolving at 360 degrees it would be standing still, wouldn't it?

Kevster

To the OP: look up what are known as 'metamaterials' in this context. You'll be very interested I believe.

Kevin

Carawaystick

chem wrote: »

Hi all. Was wondering about bending light. I know stars can bend light

Stars(and galaxies) don't bend light, they bend the universe, changing the geometry of space. Light still travels in straight lines, just the meaning of straight is different to our normal everyday experiences.

bending light by refraction is a completely different effect. probably more interesting though.

Light at or just inside an event horizon of a black hole might bend an awful lot, enough to stop any light coming out.

bildo

Black holes pull light back upon its self. That's as bent as you can go really. Anything with gravity can bend light, Einstein showed us this in one of his predictions in his paper on General Relativity

JoeB-

what about light orbiting a black hole?

Surely that can happen.. as any light which would hit the event horizon at a tangent (or some other angle) would end up orbiting... how would this look?

The light wouldn't be visible would it?

But if you fell into the hole, would you see a bright flash as you crossed the event horizon, as all the orbiting light hit your eye?

JoeB-

Actually, was thinking about this again..

Is there a geo-synchronis orbit for a (spinning) black hole?, and can a photon take up such a position???

Would this result in a stationary photon? :eek::eek::eek:

If so, you could walk up to it and examine it!


Wow..

thecornflake

JoeBallantine wrote: »

Actually, was thinking about this again..

Is there a geo-synchronis orbit for a (spinning) black hole?, and can a photon take up such a position???

Would this result in a stationary photon? :eek::eek::eek:

If so, you could walk up to it and examine it!


Wow..

but what about relativity ? , reference frames , and light travels at same speed in each frame ect

caffrey

thecornflake wrote: »

but what about relativity ? , reference frames , and light travels at same speed in each frame ect

Well, the speed of light in a vacuum is the same in all reference frames of course but maybe something which is interesting is that in different materials it has been slowed...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1124540.stm

thecornflake

very interesting, but i would imagine you wouldn't be able to "see" it. If you could , that would mean it is radiating energy and would dissipate very quickly and thus cease to be there. Why couldn't those experiments have been on the leaving cert course ?