“Is that light curling around that cylinder? Yes. Imagine this: A light ray enters the edge of the plastic. It travels through the plastic until it comes to the junction between the air and cylinder. Because of the small angle the light makes with the cup, instead of going through the junction and refracting, it reflects back in to the plastic. After reflecting, the ray hits another junction and reflects again. This process contains the light within the plastic as it continues on its initial downward direction, creating the helix you see. This is the same principle that fiber optics use to transmit light through non-linear paths.”

“Is that light curling around that cylinder? Yes. Imagine this: A light ray enters the edge of the plastic. It travels through the plastic until it comes to the junction between the air and cylinder. Because of the small angle the light makes with the cup, instead of going through the junction and refracting, it reflects back in to the plastic. After reflecting, the ray hits another junction and reflects again. This process contains the light within the plastic as it continues on its initial downward direction, creating the helix you see. This is the same principle that fiber optics use to transmit light through non-linear paths.”

(Source: Flickr / drwurm)

3 months ago  247 notes
  1. calcinator reblogged this from freshphotons
  2. isometries reblogged this from freshphotons
  3. scienceandwonder reblogged this from freshphotons
  4. spilt-milk reblogged this from olena
  5. terkthemighty reblogged this from technetium-43
  6. technetium-43 reblogged this from freshphotons
  7. honestlycrazy reblogged this from freshphotons
  8. landvaettir reblogged this from freshphotons
  9. mrcorystrauss reblogged this from freshphotons
  10. legomyeggroll reblogged this from fuckyeah-chemistry
  11. supercuddlypuppies reblogged this from freshphotons
  12. 3headeddragon reblogged this from freshphotons
  13. coldwhitedays reblogged this from freshphotons
  14. awalt2069 reblogged this from chaiface
  15. anabsolutezero reblogged this from freshphotons
  16. blitzkraft reblogged this from freshphotons
  17. caplat reblogged this from freshphotons
  18. nguyenanhtunhi reblogged this from freshphotons
  19. aycedanger reblogged this from sneakystratus
  20. yaminatori reblogged this from freshphotons
  21. the11dimensions reblogged this from sneakystratus and added:
    “Is that light curling around that cylinder? Yes. Imagine this: A light ray enters the edge of the plastic. It travels...
  22. kkdump reblogged this from magicrealist
  23. magicrealist reblogged this from fuckyeah-chemistry
  24. chemxkyle reblogged this from fuckyeah-chemistry
  25. kalooeh reblogged this from sneakystratus
  26. beeowl reblogged this from tueresmisanto
  27. wewereexplodinganyway reblogged this from abcstarstuff
  28. miranatee reblogged this from freshphotons
  29. abcstarstuff reblogged this from freshphotons
  30. thisisvana reblogged this from freshphotons
  31. niconicorarara reblogged this from sneakystratus
  32. chaiface reblogged this from freshphotons
  33. call-me-maurice reblogged this from sneakystratus