• Question: can light reflect light

    Asked by lusherush to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      That’s a tough one. It’s likely that particles of light (photons) have some very tiny influence on each other, but I don’t think they could reflect off of each other enough for us to measure it.

    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      Wow that’s an interesting question. I really don’t know – light is awkward as it behaves as both particles and waves :-S

    • Photo: David Corne

      David Corne answered on 15 Jun 2011:

      This wins the prize for best question so far. And the prize is: … another answer. I think this can probably be done, in special conditions, perhaps with a very intense high energy laser being the reflecting surface. If you think of photons as little balls, in the laser beam they will be closely packed and very energetic, so a lazier photon (from a lightbulb) would just bounce off. This is a simplistic picture, since photons aren’t really little balls, but maybe it has some validity to it.

    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      This question is to clever for me!!

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