More talk about invisibility
April 2nd 2008 10:56
I've got a friend back home that keeps pestering me about invisibility cloaks.
"When are they going to invent them? Can you invent one first? Think of all the things we could do with one?" he'd whine.
Yeah, right. I've seen enough movies to know that, as soon as I give you one, you'll turn invisible, then slit my throat and you're off. Looking into the women's locker room, no doubt.
I mean, no, it's just not possible - yet. I've been hearing about metamaterials for a long time, and they're making them, just at microwave wavelengths.
The problem is that it's too hard to make these metamaterials at visible wavelengths, precisely because the structures would have to be incredibly small. But we'll get there. When, who knows?
This invisibility cloak is a bit of a complicated hoax. It's just using a video system to project the image from behind the user.
[HTML3456}<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/twiVV5I_z1E&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/twiVV5I_z1E&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>[/HTML]
"When are they going to invent them? Can you invent one first? Think of all the things we could do with one?" he'd whine.
Yeah, right. I've seen enough movies to know that, as soon as I give you one, you'll turn invisible, then slit my throat and you're off. Looking into the women's locker room, no doubt.
I mean, no, it's just not possible - yet. I've been hearing about metamaterials for a long time, and they're making them, just at microwave wavelengths.
The problem is that it's too hard to make these metamaterials at visible wavelengths, precisely because the structures would have to be incredibly small. But we'll get there. When, who knows?
This invisibility cloak is a bit of a complicated hoax. It's just using a video system to project the image from behind the user.
[HTML3456}<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/twiVV5I_z1E&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/twiVV5I_z1E&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>[/HTML]
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