Optical Wing generates "lift" from light. - Polidicks

[I]via:[/I] NatureNews [release][B]Scientists hope breakthrough will enable space vehicles to manoeuvre solely via Sun's rays.[/B] Jon Cartwright Physicists in the United States have demonstrated the optical analogue of an aerofoil — a 'lightfoil' that generates lift when passing through laser light. The demonstration, which comes more than a century after the development of the first aeroplanes, suggests that lightfoils could one day be used to manoeuvre objects in the vacuum of outer space using only the Sun's rays. "It's almost like the first stages of what the Wright brothers did," says lead author Grover Swartzlander, a physicist at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, whose study appears in Nature Photonics today[URL="http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101205/full/news.2010.647.html?s=news_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Frss%2Fmost_recent+%28NatureNews+-+Most+recent+articles%29#B1"]1[/URL]. The principle of a lightfoil is similar to that of an aerofoil: both require the pressure to be greater on one side than the other, which generates a force, or lift, in that direction. With an aerofoil, the pressure difference arises because air must pass faster over the longer, curved side to rejoin the air passing underneath. With the lightfoil, the pressure comes from light rather than air. Such 'radiation pressure' was theorized by physicists James Clerk Maxwell and Adolfo Bartoli in the late nineteenth century, and exists because photons impart momentum to an object when they reflect off or pass through it. It is the reason, for example, that comet tails always point away from the Sun — the Sun's rays push them that way. [B] Light pressure[/B] Grover and his colleagues predicted that radiation pressure could generate lift in a lightfoil having performed computer analyses to learn how light rays refract and reflect as they enter different shaped objects. Success came in the form of a semi-cylindrical rod, which showed from the analyses that a large portion of incident light rays should leave in a perpendicular direction. The side where they leave would experience the greatest radiation pressure and, therefore, lift. To test this prediction, Grover and his group dropped plastic semi-cylindrical rods, just a few micrometres in length, into water. When they shone a laser beam onto the rods from beneath, the rods moved upwards — thanks to the direct levitating force of the laser — but they also moved to the side. It was this latter, perpendicular motion that, the researchers claim, proves the existence of optical lift. One application of the lightfoil would be to control the direction of space vehicles that rely on radiation pressure for thrust, such as the experimental solar-sail spacecraft LightSail-1, which the Planetary Society, a US public space organization based in Pasadena, California, is planning to launch later this year. The lightfoil concept could also be used to power micromachines, or transport particles in liquids. For these last applications, Matt Eichenfield, a physicist who specializes in nanoscale optical and mechanical systems at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, believes it would be more useful if the lift could be realized for any transparent object. This might be possible, he says, if the problem were considered backwards, so that it is the shape of the laser beam, rather than the object, that is tailored. Eichenfield adds, however: "It's an interesting effect. And it's key, as this field of nanomechanics combined with optics becomes more important, that we revisit the simplest phenomena, as they've done here." [/release] [URL="http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101205/full/news.2010.647.html"]Source[/URL]

And the breakthrough is? Energy is energy, all you gotta do is find a way to use it.

Weather balloon.

Cool, flying on light.

K-Pax?

what about when the sun goes down!!

[QUOTE=Jessesmith1;26512051]what about when the sun goes down!![/QUOTE] The plane goes down too.

[QUOTE=superdinoman;26512086]The plane goes down too.[/QUOTE] :ohdear:

[QUOTE=superdinoman;26511646]And the breakthrough is? Energy is energy, all you gotta do is find a way to use it.[/QUOTE] yeah, why don't we just convert a load of mass to energy it's so simple!!

[QUOTE=Jessesmith1;26512051]what about when the sun goes down!![/QUOTE] Planes don't go down in space the primary use suggested for this moron

[QUOTE=MasterG;26512460] Batteries.[/QUOTE] Batteries dont run on magic lift juice. :colbert: They would obviously use this in combination with other forms of propulsion/lift.

[QUOTE=BaconDioxide;26512280]yeah, why don't we just convert a load of mass to energy it's so simple!![/QUOTE] E=mc2 That equation is there for a reason dude.

[QUOTE=bravehat;26512506]E=mc2 That equation is there for a reason dude.[/QUOTE] my post was sarcastic what's your point?

[QUOTE=MasterG;26512460]OMG stupid sientists wy dont dey just burn a bunch of mass in 2 nergy lol... [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=bravehat;26512506]E=mc2 That equation is there for a reason dude.[/QUOTE] He was clearly being sarcastic. Maybe you need your sarcasm detectors checked.

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;26512560]He was clearly being sarcastic. Maybe you need your sarcasm detectors checked.[/QUOTE] thank you

[QUOTE=Jessesmith1;26512051]what about when the sun goes down!![/QUOTE] The sun doesn't go down when your [i]IN SPAAAAACCCCEEEEE!!!![/i]

[QUOTE=Janus Vesta;26512583]The sun doesn't go down when your [i]IN SPAAAAACCCCEEEEE!!!![/i][/QUOTE] ...please don't tell me you missed his sarcasm :v:

[QUOTE=superdinoman;26511646]And the breakthrough is? Energy is energy, all you gotta do is find a way to use it.[/QUOTE] The breakthrough obviously is that they found a way to convert light-energy into a useable form of mechanical energy.

Duh, Lady Rainicorn does this already. [media]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2488/4184942043_f8a9f75467_o.jpg[/media]

[QUOTE=MasterG;26512022]I expect to see planes flying on rainbows. [img_thumb]http://regmedia.co.uk/2010/06/18/rainbow_aircraft.jpg[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] If your post says the word rainbow, it will automatically get flooded with optimistic ratings

We already have a solar sail flying to Venus... Was this necessary? We KNOW photons impart momentum. [IMG]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IdE-xwjB1Kc/S_fNcIOtvHI/AAAAAAAAGeE/3fVzlXvVZyE/s1600/pic_10_l.jpg[/IMG]

Heck, I'm pretty sure I've seen multiple projects of a pulse laser making a craft go upwards. [editline]6th December 2010[/editline] Jesus christ [URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtH-SxqdtaA]OCTOBER 2000[/URL] Clocks. They will rain from the sky, and blot out the sun.

I can already imagine old pirateships in space with this thing. [IMG]http://legacyentries.weheartit.netdna-cdn.com/20080917080900.jpg[/IMG] Har har har motherfuckers, gonna steal your booty coming to solarsystem near you

[QUOTE=BmB;26515319]Clocks. They will rain from the sky, and blot out the sun.[/QUOTE] Then we will post in the shade.

[QUOTE=superdinoman;26511646]And the breakthrough is? Energy is energy, all you gotta do is find a way to use it.[/QUOTE] Sure it's not a scientific breakthrough, but it is an engineering breakthrough which is just as important. :colbert:

[QUOTE=Billiam;26516114]Sure it's not a scientific breakthrough, but it is an engineering breakthrough which is just as important. :colbert:[/QUOTE] Its neither.

[QUOTE=Billiam;26516114]Sure it's not a scientific breakthrough, but it is an engineering breakthrough which is just as important. :colbert:[/QUOTE] You might notice there have been practical applications of principles like this since at least october 2000.

That's just a solar sail.

How about we let the scientists decide what's a breakthrough and what isn't hmm?

[QUOTE=bravehat;26512506]E=mc2 That equation is there for a reason dude.[/QUOTE] You dont convert mass into energy by doing that equation. That equations just calculates the ammount of energy released when m mass gets used up in a fuel rod (or simmilar) You still need a way to split an atom (which isnt easy) Solar sails/wings and even solar "wind"mills are alreaddy old news tough. [editline]6th December 2010[/editline] [QUOTE=superdinoman;26511646]And the breakthrough is? Energy is energy, all you gotta do is find a way to use it.[/QUOTE] Yeah man why dont you just invent cold fusion then? I mean energy is energy right?