# What would the photons do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371 "2017-03-04T11:52:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mjolnir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mjolnir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mjolnir)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/1 "2017-03-04T11:52:52Z")
Given a box made with six “perfect” mirrors, and a light source that can be introduced without disrupting the reflections, could I turn on the light and “trap” it in the box for use at a later time? I’m planning a camping trip and don’t want to carry a generator in my backpack for light when I need it. 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/2 "2017-03-04T11:59:54Z")
We’ve been through this before. If anything, a sphere might work better. ---
**Author:** ![Mjolnir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mjolnir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mjolnir)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/3 "2017-03-04T12:18:38Z")
“We” have? Can you direct me to the thread? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/4 "2017-03-04T12:42:58Z")
> **[Is it possible to build a "light trap" out of mirrors?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=613274)** > > Go into a windowless room with two mirrors placed opposite each other, so that you see an endless tunnel of self-contained images in each – that’s the light bouncing back and forth between them, right? Now turn off the light. It goes dark. Light... > **[Lets say you had a box made of mirrors...](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=610979)** > > and you shut the lid. It would get dark inside, right? Why doesn’t the light trapped inside the box continually reflect off the mirrors and keep the inside of the box illuminated? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/5 "2017-03-04T14:11:05Z")
If you had perfect mirrors, it would work. But you don’t. And a mirror which is merely, say, 99.99% perfect isn’t nearly good enough. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/6 "2017-03-04T14:28:00Z")
And you can’t be in the box, otherwise all the photons will be absorbed by you. Very quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/7 "2017-03-04T15:25:16Z")
> [@Mjolnir](#): > > “We” have? Can you direct me to the thread? The thread is weightless. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/8 "2017-03-04T15:49:45Z")
In a [vacuum](https://xkcd.com/669/). ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/9 "2017-03-04T17:03:21Z")
> [@Mjolnir](#): > > “We” have? Can you direct me to the thread? Welcome to SD. Had **panache45** left out the second part of his brief post you would have witnessed the truly awesome Thumbsquish of the Mods. A sticky somewhere talks about that, and about minimum referencing/searching “necessary” by new posters (the answer is hardly any), and elsewhere is a sticky about stroking Google for all the right moves to filter SD. Plus you have the search bars for the front page and for the forums. Godspeed. You’ll wind up in About This Message Board forum soon enough to bitch about it if you find it necessary, where you’ll be told…“we’ve been through this before.” 🙂 ETA: Your hed made me wonder what my life would be like were it to be a personal challenge, with a swap for Jesus. (Who is THE light, according to some.) ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/10 "2017-03-04T17:26:46Z")
Might be easier to convert your photons into electrons … store them that way … ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/11 "2017-03-04T18:13:45Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > And you can’t be in the box Neither can your light source really, or it gets in the way and absorbs the light. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/12 "2017-03-05T02:21:33Z")
Nah, you just have to jerk it out of the box and seal the hole _real_ fast! ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/13 "2017-03-05T03:09:28Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Nah, you just have to jerk it out of the box and seal the hole _real_ fast! You would have to jerk it out of the hole and light speed, so that isnt exactly possible And seal the hole in the same motion. Houston, we have a problem HOLE we have imperfection in the mirror ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/14 "2017-03-05T03:18:47Z")
You know, a good Demon could handle that. ---
**Author:** ![Mjolnir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mjolnir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mjolnir)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/15 "2017-03-05T07:54:21Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > [Is it possible to build a "light trap" out of mirrors? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=613274) > [Lets say you had a box made of mirrors... - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=610979) Mea Culpa – I did search for “light trap” and mirrors, and since I was told that “we” had discussed it, I didn’t think to go back through a half a decade+ of threads. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/16 "2017-03-05T13:09:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Weisshund** : > > You would have to jerk it out of the hole and light speed, so that isnt exactly possible No, you could arrange your box so that the distance the light source and door needed to move was less than the size of the box, so you could move them at slower than light speed. It’d still be really, really tough, but it’s just an engineering problem. ---
**Author:** ![igor\_frankensteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/839c29/32.png) [@igor\_frankensteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igor_frankensteen)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/17 "2017-03-05T13:21:57Z")
There’s been something in the news about trapping photons, just recently. You’ll find various articles discussing it, if you search on “trap photons.” Nothing you can use on your camping trip, though. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/18 "2017-03-05T16:54:06Z")
Even if you had perfect mirrors, and could trap the light, it would only last for maybe 1/10 of a nanosecond once you opened the box. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/19 "2017-03-05T18:45:05Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Even if you had perfect mirrors, and could trap the light, it would only last for maybe 1/10 of a nanosecond once you opened the box. That depends on the size of the box. For a 1 inch box, what you say is true. If the box is a foot wide, the beam would last a whole nanosecond. If it’s 300,000 kilometers wide, it would last a second. Although a 300,000 kilometer box would be awkward to take on a camping trip. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371/20 "2017-03-05T19:00:14Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > …a 300,000 kilometer box would be awkward to take on a camping trip. Let’s start thinking more practically here. Why not just leave the photons orbiting around a black hole until you need them? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-photons-do/781371.md?page=2)