# New MIT camera makes slow motion movies of light

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mit-camera-makes-slow-motion-movies-of-light/606111>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 14, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mit-camera-makes-slow-motion-movies-of-light/606111 "2011-12-14T00:46:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mit-camera-makes-slow-motion-movies-of-light/606111/1 "2011-12-14T00:46:55Z")

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You read that right. The camera, which captures trillions of frames per second, can track the motion of light across a scene in human-comprehensible time. You can read all about it [here](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/science/speed-of-light-lingers-in-face-of-mit-media-lab-camera.html), and see a video [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RbLLYCiyGE).

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**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mit-camera-makes-slow-motion-movies-of-light/606111/2 "2011-12-14T01:11:49Z")

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Beat me to posting this. Very cool stuff. I like the scene in the vid linked to in the story of a laser pulse traveling through a soda bottle.

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-mit-camera-makes-slow-motion-movies-of-light/606111/3 "2011-12-14T02:47:02Z")

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This is interesting. It’s a _effective_ rate of a trillion frames per second. It seems to be repeated pictures taken of a pulsing light source, with the picture rate offset by an an eyelash from the pulse rate–would that be a good summary?