Solid Light???

[Pomlom]

Hello,

 

I am just theorizing here but can light be made solid???

 

What if you excite the photons enough so that they displace the air around them. Would that make the light solid or coherent????

 

Pomlom

[YT2095]

Sufficient photons at the right energy level (like that from some Lasers) can displace air molecules by a heating effect, very similar to that created by Lightening, the effect is a distinct *Crack* sound.

 

as for light becoming a "Solid", I very much doubt it

[pulkit]

What if you excite the photons enough so that they displace the air around them.

How would that make light "solid" ?

How do you excite a photon ? - I thought photons were used to excite atoms ??

[Pomlom]

Well, as "the resourceful one" just mentioned above, you could use a laser to excite the photons enough.

[ydoaPs]

i remember reading about "liquid light" in Discover a while back

[pulkit]

The enrgy of a photon is dependent solely on its frequency, so how do you excite it by lasers ?

[swansont]

Well, as "the resourceful one" just mentioned above, you could use a laser to excite the photons enough.

 

YT didn't say you excite the photons, though. He was talking about photons interacting with the air.

[Guest Novitas]

As massless particles, photons must travel the speed of light relative to any observer. This would at first glance make it difficult to imagine just how such a morass of high speed particles could coalesce in any meanginful way.

 

Also there is the problem of binding. Normal atoms form molecules and the molecules arrange themselves into solids guided by electromagnetic forces. Photons on the other hand are not subject to any such manipulation. They exist at a given discrete energy level and travel through space at the speed of light. They are emitted by matter as matter cools and are absorbed by matter as matter heats up.

 

Normal atoms are made up of three distinct kinds of particles. Photons are but a single type unto themselves that do not interact with each other or do so only very weakly. Therefore no photon atoms, molecules, or solids.

 

It would seem the case is closed.

[Pomlom]

Yes maybe......

 

but we may never know......

 

light can do many unusual things. many, we may never know about......

 

Pomlom

[5614]

i have to say, that it is highly unlikely, and as far as i can see, totaly impossible that light could ever become solid, dense maybe, but not that it would make a difference, to how we see it!

 

however, there is one way: which is questioning the theory of photons! as we are not certain what light is, as from the two famous experiments, light acts as a wave, and a particle, in different situations! so maybe it can do other things, which we still dont know about.

 

however this is highly unlikely, so i must say, as novitas said, it seems the case is closed!

[Pomlom]

I dont think the case is closed, yet. I put up another thread on forum asking if energy can be converted into matter. The answer was yes, and the most well known effect turned out to be Pair Production.

 

Probably most known effect: Pair production: Photon -> electron + positron.

 

So no, the case is not closed.

 

Pomlom

[Severian]

Photons are electrically neutral, so they do not bind with one another. Therefore you could not make any substance which is entirely made of photons and bonds. Since a solid is defined by its bonding, you cannot have solid light.

[[Tycho?]]

I dont think the case is closed' date=' yet. I put up another thread on forum asking if energy can be converted into matter. The answer was yes, and the most well known effect turned out to be Pair Production.

 

 

 

So no, the case is not closed.

 

Pomlom[/quote']

 

 

Super high energy gamma rays cause pair production, and yes they do form matter. Of course, its one particle of matter, and one of antimatter. In pair production, these particles quickly come together and anihilate themselves, producing two more photons of lower energy gamma rays. Building something with anti matter in it is not a good idea, as when it comes into contact with normal matter both particles are transformed into energy. I dont see how this could be used to make anything.

 

And, this discussion was not "can light be made into matter". It is known energy has a mass equivilance. This isn't making light solid, its turing it into something completely different. It was "can light be made solid", to which the answer is no.

[Pomlom]

Yes, but it is a start to making light solid.

 

Pomlom

[[Tycho?]]

Not really.

[Guest Snazzman]

Well i have heard of new reserch in the slowing of light, the record was last at like 27 MPH. This was achived by beaming a laser thru a tube of sodium gas that was supercooled to almost abslute zero.....

[Thales]

']Super high energy gamma rays cause pair production' date=' and yes they do form matter. Of course, its one particle of matter, and one of antimatter. . I dont see how this could be used to make anything.

[/quote']

 

IMO This process can create mass quite easily (hawking radiation demonstrates??). If you bind something very quickly to either particle or antiparticle the other one decays into matter also, is this not the case?

 

Oh and last I heard they had succeeded in slowing light to walking pace...

[5614]

IMO This process can create mass quite easily (hawking radiation demonstrates??). If you bind something very quickly to either particle or antiparticle the other one decays into matter also' date=' is this not the case?

 

Oh and last I heard they had succeeded in slowing light to walking pace...[/quote']

 

i once heard that someone stopped light, i will try and find an article on it

[5614]

yup, "scientists stop light in its tracks"...

 

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns9999340

 

for those who cant be bothered to read it, it was done as part of an experiment for quantum computing!