I’ve thought about the concept of a practical invisibility suit quite a bit (my wife would roll her eyes at that statement) and here’s my best low-tech/high-tech effort. I’m sure a lot of other people have come up with pretty much this same idea and discarded it. I was too lazy to actually do research.
The suit is made up of two nested spheres. The inner sphere is large enough for a person to stand up in. The outer one is completely covered with the exposed ends of optic cable strands in the highest density possible. Each strand of cable begins at a point on the surface of the sphere and ends at the point directly opposite. The cabling runs through the space between the spheres. Light entering a cable strand on one side of the sphere is visible from the other side, as if it had traveled in a straight line.
Obvious caveats:
- The person inside can’t see where they’re going.
- The resolution is crappy. It won’t stand up to close scrutiny.
- Light rays from a bright nearby source that strike the end of a strand obliquely would appear to suddenly change direction, making for all kinds of unfortunate distortions.
Oh well, back to the drawing board. No, wait. I haven’t even got to the drawing board yet.