I know someone who has said on more than one occasion that the world is fucked up. Now, there is proof. Some silly physicists want us to believe that they shined a light into a fiber optic cable and it actually started at the other end instead of at the end into which they shined the light, that is, they claim that the light traveled backwards.
Although the speed of light is said to be about 186,000 miles per second, it can be faster or slower, depending on the nature of the substance the light passes through ... hence, the pencil sticking out of the partially-filled glass of water appears bent because of the differing densities of air and the liquid in the glass. It's a trick of the light, so to speak.
And so, I say, this experiment that the pesky scientists performed is simply a cheap parlor trick because, as the Poynting vector indicated, the energy flow is pointing in the forward direction.
Well, on second thought, it may not have been as cheap as the pencil-in-the-glass-of-water trick.
Posted by Bill at May 15, 2006 02:08 PMSounds like something that is being funded with some government grants using our tax dollars.
Posted by: Vito at May 15, 2006 03:04 PMGiven who is making the claim, I am withholding judgement. It calls for replication by other scientists. If they can do it, we'll just have to adjust our concept of reality -- again.
Well, we've done it before. It seems earth-shaking when we are called to dare the step, but when we are done, existence is pretty much as it was for us before. The world was roundish before thought it flat. And it is easy to see how we thought it so.
Now, if I can just figure out a way to make the light reverse so that the camera cannot see me cross the line at the intersection of Alicia and Pacific Parkway, I'll be set.
Posted by: Joel Sax at May 15, 2006 07:05 PM