Comment on I can whistle at the speed of sound

• Glowstick@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  Actually, c is the speed of light in a vacuum, but light travels slower through a medium, like air. So lasers shot through air will actually travel slower than c.

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  • Bassman1805@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    (For anyone curious, the speed of light in earth air is like 99.97% as fast as in vacuum)

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    • jaybone@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Bunch of nerds in this thread.

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      • Vilian@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        You’re in science_memes what did you expected?

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      • ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        exactly where they should be.

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    • LilDumpy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Ya, but that’s JUST slow enough to be able to see it.

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  • DannyBoy@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Maybe it’s going to be space lasers.

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    • 5oap10116@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      Do you know what the religious affiliation of these space lasers will be?

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      • dohpaz42@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        You have a lot of chutzpah to ask such a question. Oy! What would your mother say?

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      • shasta@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        Flying Spaghetti Monster

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  • marcos@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    A laser strong enough to be used as a weapon will probably not leave a lot of medium on its path.

    But the front-most part will still travel at less than c. It will just speed-up after a while.

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    • sinkingship@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I’m curious. What happens to the medium? Does it simply get pushed aside? Or pushed along? Or will it eat up some energy and react to something else?

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      • Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        Much like lightning, a powerful enough laser will ionize the air. That ionized air is hot and rises, just like the ionized gasses from combustion.

        A powerful laser will look like a beam of fire.

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• Eril@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  I would be especially interested in speeds larger than c 🙂

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  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Image

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• Xavienth@lemmygrad.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

  Well that’s pretty easy, just fire it anywhere except a vacuum.

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  • PythagreousTitties@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    But I never use my vacuum. Might as well fire a laser at it!

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  • dev_null@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    It’s still travelling at c, it’s just bouncing around the medium’s particles on the way. It arrives later because it’s not going in a straight line.

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    • qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

      I don’t think that’s a great way of thinking about it. I think you’re describing something more like scattering — or maybe absorption and stimulated or spontaneous emission — which does indeed happen, but is distinct from the index of a medium.

      If it were indeed “bouncing,” optics wouldn’t really work, as any n > 0 medium would cause the light to go every which way.

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      • SirSmokeAlot@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

        If you fire a laser that goes first through vacuum, then through a lens, then again in vacuum, at what speed is the light travelling on the other side?

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  • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago

    Yes, ofc - but we’re talking about a weapon here, the air is implied as a medium, and the very-near-c with it.

    But a weapon that would construct some sort of structure or a tunnel between it’s position and the target would be something else indeed.

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