# MIT develops 1 trillion FPS camera; it can actually see light moving **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 18, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222 "2012-02-18T02:55:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/1 "2012-02-18T02:55:37Z")
[This is some neat shit](http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/trillion-fps-camera-1213.html). They shot brief pulses of light from a laser through a coke bottle (skip to 1:48 if you’re not interested in the explanation, though it is pretty interesting) and you can actually watch the photons as they plod along. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/2 "2012-02-18T03:23:14Z")
Wow, that is some neat shit! That really looks like it will have some game-changing practical applications in the future. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/3 "2012-02-18T03:39:34Z")
Wow, amazing. I think there are some real practical applications for this in my field. I’ll fill out an improvement suggestion form and cash in on this puppy. Thanks! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/4 "2012-02-18T04:19:27Z")
Wow. Just wow. Freaking fantastic! ---
**Author:** ![Saffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saffer/32/6440_2.png) [@Saffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saffer)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/5 "2012-02-18T09:51:49Z")
The only reason why cameras can “see” anything is because they detect the photons that bounce off that thing. There are no photons that bounce off other photons allowing you to see photons “plod along”. The video is an optical illusion. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/6 "2012-02-18T23:53:23Z")
> [@Saffer](#): > > The only reason why cameras can “see” anything is because they detect the photons that bounce off that thing. > There are no photons that bounce off other photons allowing you to see photons “plod along”. The video is an optical illusion. But as photons move through a transparent object, the odd one will be scattered laterally allowing you to track the progress of the beam through the object, surely. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/7 "2012-02-19T00:02:03Z")
Next up, Photon Torpedos! ---
**Author:** ![industrialfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/fbc32d/32.png) [@industrialfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/industrialfish)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/8 "2012-02-19T00:12:28Z")
Those are not “videos” like normal high-speed cameras are. They literally repeated those scenes thousands of times, and took only one picture each time, and then had a computer synch it all together. It only works with light pulses because light is a constant and reacts the exact same way each time. They cannot film anything other then set up light experiments. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/9 "2012-02-19T00:15:17Z")
This is really amazing. The ability to use non-coherent photons to image an object at that speed is truly a breakthrough. This will, in my opinion, be genuinely useful in many different applications. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/10 "2012-02-19T00:55:06Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > This will, in my opinion, be genuinely useful in many different applications. Yes! We will now know if Hans Sol really did shot first.😛 ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/11 "2012-02-19T02:12:06Z")
Witchcraft! ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/12 "2012-02-19T02:25:33Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Yes! We will now know if Hans Sol really did shot first.😛 Hans Sol?!?!? ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/13 "2012-02-19T02:37:54Z")
I really like what they call it - “The world’s slowest fastest camera”. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/14 "2012-02-19T04:51:59Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Hans Sol?!?!? Han Solo:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/15 "2012-02-19T05:01:49Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Next up, Photon Torpedos! Damn the Torpedoes! > [@Candyman74](#): > > Hans Sol?!?!? Germans always shoot first. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/16 "2012-02-19T05:39:05Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Damn the Torpedoes! > > Germans always shoot first. Is Greedo a French name? Or Polish? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/17 "2012-02-19T15:10:22Z")
I can’t really imagine anything happening at a few hundred times a second, let alone a trillion. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/18 "2012-02-19T16:56:49Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I can’t really imagine anything happening at a few hundred times a second, let alone a trillion. When you’re driving down the highway each of your car’s pistons is changing direction roughly 100 times per second. (That’s assuming that I’m understanding engine terminology correctly, that at cruising speed you engine is doing roughly 3000 RPM, and noting that each revolution involves two direction changes [up and down] for each piston.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/19 "2012-02-19T17:33:09Z")
Finally! We can see the Scalosians that gave Capt Kirk so much trouble in _Wink of an Eye_. The Enterprise should have been fitted with one of these cameras at the space dock. 😉 > [@](#): > > Kirk puts the ship on full alert, and while he takes a coffee break on the bridge, he notices the movements of the bridge crew seem to slow down to a stop as if time itself is being manipulated. Suddenly, a beautiful woman in a colorful gown appears on the bridge and addresses Kirk. The woman identifies herself as Deela, Queen of the Scalosians, and she explains to Kirk that the bridge crew has not slowed down, but he has been sped up, having been matched to the Scalosian’s “hyper-accelerated” physical existence. It is only through this accelerated process that the aliens can interact with humans. > **[Wink of an Eye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wink_of_an_Eye)** > > "Wink of an Eye" is the eleventh episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Arthur Heinemann, based on a story by Gene L. Coon (under the pen name Lee Cronin), and directed by Jud Taylor, it was first broadcast on November 29, 1968. > In the episode, normally invisible time-accelerated aliens take over the Enterprise and attempt to abduct the crew for use as breeding stock. > In answer to a distress call, the Federation starship Enterpris... ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222/20 "2012-02-19T17:36:47Z")
You have to figure there are some interesting apps in materials technology, biotech and so forth coming down the pike. Sure smells like a game-changer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mit-develops-1-trillion-fps-camera-it-can-actually-see-light-moving/613222.md?page=2)