Strictly speaking, the laser beams would bend, but by an amount far smaller than any tolerances the tubes could be built to.
Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that they travel in a straight line according to the warping of space, which viewed from distant side perspectives would show a bend?
That’s why I used the less-technical word “bend”, rather than the more-technical “curve”. One can define “bend” in such a way as to include what a light beam does, and in fact, someone not knowledgeable about Riemanian geometry who came up with a rigorous definition of “bend” probably would include a light beam’s behavior.
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Moderator Note
@jjakucyk I’m not sure what the intention was here. It looks like probably an attempt at humor, but could be taken as a threadshit or an insult (which is warnable). While we do allow animated gifs on the SDMB, please keep them appropriate to the forum that you are posting in.
Yes, chill. The whole curve/bend/warping/Riemanian geometry thing was going deep into pedantry corner and it seemed like a little levity was due.
Maybe, but shouting “Nerd!” at someone isn’t exactly the height of humor. Especially when you’re not even doing it yourself.