light in two places at once

[jamey2k9]

I was waving my phone around in the dark and i noticed that it left a trail of light like it was in two places at once what causes this?

[timo]

The slow reaction of your eyes or brain, I guess. I first thought it is more likely to be the eyes but when thinking about how movies work (a set of static pictures appear like fluent movement) it might as well be the brain.

[Airbrush]

That is an optical illusion. Light moves so fast that it is hard to say if it is in two places at once. But let us know if you ever notice the real deal.

[Kyrisch]

It has to do with the 'frame speed' of your eyes. Your eyes, like a video camera, produce the motion picture you see with a very real frame speed. As such, things that move faster than this frame speed become blurred. The same effect is obvious when you watch the hubcap of a tire get up to speed from rest. It seems to accelerate and then start to go backwards. This is because the frame speed of your perception is so slow that your brain is interpreting the few frames it receives into a model that the wheel is going backwards when you know very well it is not.

[samtheflash82]

well this is a bit unrelated but scientists have actually figured out how to teleport photons (light particles). so basically, yes, light can be in 2 places at once. but not in this context.

http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/28175 theres an article on the teleportation of photons.

[swansont]

well this is a bit unrelated but scientists have actually figured out how to teleport photons (light particles). so basically, yes, light can be in 2 places at once. but not in this context.

http://cerncourier.com/cws/article/cern/28175 theres an article on the teleportation of photons.

 

Quantum teleportation is not being in two places at once. It refers to the transfer of quantum information

[Kyrisch]

The double slit experiment could technically be interpreted as so, but that's not really related to the OP.