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[-] Glowstick@lemmy.world 102 points 3 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 57 points 3 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 3 months ago

Bunch of nerds in this thread.

[-] Vilian@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 months ago

You're in science_memes what did you expected?

[-] LilDumpy@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

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

[-] DannyBoy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 months ago

Maybe it's going to be space lasers.

[-] 5oap10116@lemmy.world 32 points 3 months ago

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

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 20 points 3 months ago

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

[-] TheFriar@lemm.ee 5 points 3 months ago

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

[-] shasta@lemm.ee 12 points 3 months ago
[-] marcos@lemmy.world 7 points 3 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 3 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 3 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
1145 points (99.2% liked)

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