Motion of light captured at 1 Trillion FPS

[captain spaulding]

This was uploaded in 2011, but the first i'm seeing of it. Very cool if you ask me.

[bmot]

Wow, awesome!

[Grant Lamontagne]

1 trillion times per second?  Wow... that's amazing.

My physics might be off here, but I'm not sure this works as they describe it- or perhaps I misunderstood what they are saying.   

I'm not sure you can take a photo of light since what a photo is is captured light.  You can take photos of fast things like bullets because the light bouncing off the object is infinitely faster than the bullet, meaning it might as well (relatively speaking) be standing still.  Not so with the light.

Imagine for a moment that you and someone else are standing in a field.  You move ten paces north, turn and take a photo of where you just were, intending to take a picture of the person you were just standing next to.  However, that person takes ten paces to the east at the same speed and starting at the same time you moved, meaning that when you snap the photo of the spot you both just occupied, no one is there.

This reminds me of the old hypothetical about driving a car at the speed of light and you turn the headlights on, and whether or not that makes a difference.

Def

[bmot]

1 trillion times per second?  Wow... that's amazing.

My physics might be off here, but I'm not sure this works as they describe it- or perhaps I misunderstood what they are saying.   

I'm not sure you can take a photo of light since what a photo is is captured light.  You can take photos of fast things like bullets because the light bouncing off the object is infinitely faster than the bullet, meaning it might as well (relatively speaking) be standing still.  Not so with the light.

Imagine for a moment that you and someone else are standing in a field.  You move ten paces north, turn and take a photo of where you just were, intending to take a picture of the person you were just standing next to.  However, that person takes ten paces to the east at the same speed and starting at the same time you moved, meaning that when you snap the photo of the spot you both just occupied, no one is there.

This reminds me of the old hypothetical about driving a car at the speed of light and you turn the headlights on, and whether or not that makes a difference.

Def

I believe the point was that they don't really photograph one photon travelling, but they first make a pic of a photon being in one place, then of another one in the next place. This would only work in a static place, so each shot they take, it seems like it's all just in one instant. (does this makes sense, I feel like my english is holding me back -.-)

[Grant Lamontagne]

That is what I thought too, but then how does one prove this?  I could take a similar series of shots with a laser pointer, plastic coke bottle and a camera?  Basically, it would be stop motion photography, something that has been done almost as long as there have been cameras.

I'm not denying they did it, I'm more interested in the mechanics of how this would really be accomplished.  You couldn't really photograph where a photon was, as the photon would have moved long before the camera would have been able to register where it was.

Def

[ducttapetech]

I was kinda thinking they used a bunch of cameras in a series. Maybe I didnt hear right.
sent from Ducttapetech's mobile device

[bmot]

Hmm, explaining things in just text is hard... 


They use the same camera, but they 'recreate' the situation a lot of times, then make a pic of each place in the situation, so they can ....


You know what, I don't understand it well enough... 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I get what you are saying, don't worry!

If guys like me were able to understand how you do it then it wouldn't be much of a breakthrough, now would it? 

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

[ducttapetech]

I get what you are saying, don't worry!

If guys like me were able to understand how you do it then it wouldn't be much of a breakthrough, now would it? 

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

it would be a breakthrough just to get us to understand it. 

[tattoosteve99]

It's very interesting! That camera is one fast picture taker!! @def , It's not taking a picture of photons, the light moving through the bottle is one pulse from the laser. So essentially it's taking a lot of pictures of that one pulse of light, then putting all the pictures together so it looks like its moving .

[Grant Lamontagne]

That is basically my point- I could take the same sequence with a laser pointer...

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

[captain spaulding]

I agree with DEF about the sequence.


This is maybe not as intriguing as I originally thought. 

[bmot]

That is basically my point- I could take the same sequence with a laser pointer...

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

Well, they still are the first one to do it, it seems... Must be a bit harder than that.

[tattoosteve99]

That is basically my point- I could take the same sequence with a laser pointer...

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

Do it.  Pics will prove it

[captain spaulding]

That is basically my point- I could take the same sequence with a laser pointer...

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

Do it.  Pics will prove it

Uh oh, I smell a challenge and a science project all in one. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

The issue is that mine might be interrupted by large dogs attacking the bottle.  They love the laser pointer!

Def

[captain spaulding]

Some animals just go crazy over laser pointers. Its normally very entertaining. 

[Grant Lamontagne]

It's especially hilarious when the animal going for it is quite large like my Daisy!  Furniture leaps out of her way when she goes after it!   

Def