Stupid physics question

[JonnyStarks]

Hey guys

This is coming form a guy who has a background of a grade 12 physics class so this might be a dumb question... and I can think of a bunch of reasons why its irrelevant... but here we go anyway.

Lets say that you had like a mirror box, or better yet, a mirror sphere where the reflective part is facing inward.

If you were to somehow to get a light source in there, like a burst of light, would the light just bounce around forever? Provided whatever you used to make the light didn't have some sort of waste produce to absorb the light after it was made? And would you even be able to tell? Like maybe if it was one of those one way mirrors that you could see through on one side... ?

I dunno.... it's just something that I've wondered but it sounded too dumb to ask someone in person.

 

[minendo]

No. Light intensity fades as it is reflected.

 

[NeoPTLD]

Originally posted by: JonnyStarks
Hey guys

This is coming form a guy who has a background of a grade 12 physics class so this might be a dumb question... and I can think of a bunch of reasons why its irrelevant... but here we go anyway.

Lets say that you had like a mirror box, or better yet, a mirror sphere where the reflective part is facing inward.

If you were to somehow to get a light source in there, like a burst of light, would the light just bounce around forever? Provided whatever you used to make the light didn't have some sort of waste produce to absorb the light after it was made? And would you even be able to tell? Like maybe if it was one of those one way mirrors that you could see through on one side... ?

I dunno.... it's just something that I've wondered but it sounded too dumb to ask someone in person.

If you can see it, that means photons are leaking. No material have 100% reflectivity and after all the diffusion, refraction and absorption, light disappears.

 

[JonnyStarks]

Well, that should let me sleep a little easier 🙂

(plus I probably should have gotten that myself...)