Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84 (Fortune 01.1b1); site graffiti.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!qantel!lll-crg!seismo!ut-sally!ut-ngp!shell!graffiti!peter From: peter@graffiti.UUCP (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: net.sci Subject: Re: Questions on PHOTONS Message-ID: <466@graffiti.UUCP> Date: Sat, 23-Nov-85 10:07:43 EST Article-I.D.: graffiti.466 Posted: Sat Nov 23 10:07:43 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 28-Nov-85 04:00:28 EST References: <1092@mtuxo.UUCP> <169@ccnysci.UUCP> <631@hlwpc.UUCP> Organization: The Power Elite, Houston, TX Lines: 27 > This doesn't make sense to me; if you are constantly adding > light (photons) and only a small fraction can go away (presumable > as heat) then it seems to me the number of photons (and > intensity of light) should continue to increase unbounded. > > Am I missing something here? Yes. As the intensity of light goes up so will the amount of heating, until eventually the loss to radiation/conduction/whatever will reach the same level as the gain from the light source. Of courtse if you had a perfect insulator around the mirrors... :-> > By the way, a related question is, what would happen if > you fired a strobe once in the chamber? I think the answer > is that the light would echoe around the room for awhile > and gradually die out as the mirrors heated up. Yes. Although if you are careful in your choiuce of materials and adjust the shape of the chamber properly what you'll have is a laser. > :. *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** -- Name: Peter da Silva Graphic: `-_-' UUCP: ...!shell!{graffiti,baylor}!peter IAEF: ...!kitty!baylor!peter