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[-] Glowstick@lemmy.world 103 points 10 months ago

Actually, c is the speed of light in a vacuum, but light travels slower through a medium, like air. So lasers shot through air will actually travel slower than c.

[-] Bassman1805@lemmy.world 59 points 10 months ago

(For anyone curious, the speed of light in earth air is like 99.97% as fast as in vacuum)

[-] jaybone@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago

Bunch of nerds in this thread.

[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 15 points 10 months ago

You're in science_memes what did you expected?

[-] ASeriesOfPoorChoices@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

exactly where they should be.

[-] LilDumpy@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Ya, but that's JUST slow enough to be able to see it.

[-] DannyBoy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 10 months ago

Maybe it's going to be space lasers.

[-] 5oap10116@lemmy.world 34 points 10 months ago

Do you know what the religious affiliation of these space lasers will be?

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago

You have a lot of chutzpah to ask such a question. Oy! What would your mother say?

[-] TheFriar@lemm.ee 6 points 10 months ago

“You’re so skinny why are you not eating”

[-] shasta@lemm.ee 12 points 10 months ago
[-] 5oap10116@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago
[-] marcos@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

A laser strong enough to be used as a weapon will probably not leave a lot of medium on its path.

But the front-most part will still travel at less than c. It will just speed-up after a while.

[-] sinkingship@mander.xyz 1 points 10 months ago

I'm curious. What happens to the medium? Does it simply get pushed aside? Or pushed along? Or will it eat up some energy and react to something else?

[-] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 6 points 10 months ago

Much like lightning, a powerful enough laser will ionize the air. That ionized air is hot and rises, just like the ionized gasses from combustion.

A powerful laser will look like a beam of fire.

this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
1154 points (99.2% liked)

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