Catchetat
29-05-2006, 11:19 AM
Fans of J.K. Rowling will recall that everyone’s favorite boy magician, Potter, can vanish at will. All he does is duck under his magic cloak and swoosh… he’s gone.
But now here’s good news for those that want to do the same.. or should I say a FAB news for teenage boys everywhere who have ever dreamt of being a fly on girls’ locker room wall.
Last week a journal published 2 reports from scientists who have discovered how to achieve the same “invisible” effect without breaking the laws of physics.
Invisibility, they argue, is a matter of diverting light around an object so all the light continues on its way instead of reflecting off the object. The reports suggest using a thick shell of high-tech transparent material “metamaterial” to do this. Even when looking directly at the object, an observer would see only what was behind it.
Most materials are opaque to light because they absorb photons and convert
them to heat. This is why sunlight feels warm on the skin. But a few materials, such as glass, are transparent. This is because their atoms are organised in such a way that the photons can pass between them.
What Pendry and two colleagues from Duke University in North Carolina have shown, in a paper published in Science, the journal, is that there is a third class of materials that can be made to “grab” photons without absorbing them or allowing them straight through.
Instead, the metallic materials would carry the photons within themselves and then emit them from the other side as if they had travelled in a straight line directly through.
But first they would have to make the metamaterials, which would deflect light and sound and other force waves.
``It is a fascinating concept," said Steven G. Johnson, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an e-mail. ``But I suspect that you're unlikely to find it for sale anytime soon (except on Daigon Alley)."
If Pendry is right, such technology could be used for a variety of purposes, particularly for the military, for example, hiding military hardware etc.
But not to forget, developing such technology ALSO has its cons.
Where in the world is privacy!?
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/5555/camouflage8gk.jpg
But now here’s good news for those that want to do the same.. or should I say a FAB news for teenage boys everywhere who have ever dreamt of being a fly on girls’ locker room wall.
Last week a journal published 2 reports from scientists who have discovered how to achieve the same “invisible” effect without breaking the laws of physics.
Invisibility, they argue, is a matter of diverting light around an object so all the light continues on its way instead of reflecting off the object. The reports suggest using a thick shell of high-tech transparent material “metamaterial” to do this. Even when looking directly at the object, an observer would see only what was behind it.
Most materials are opaque to light because they absorb photons and convert
them to heat. This is why sunlight feels warm on the skin. But a few materials, such as glass, are transparent. This is because their atoms are organised in such a way that the photons can pass between them.
What Pendry and two colleagues from Duke University in North Carolina have shown, in a paper published in Science, the journal, is that there is a third class of materials that can be made to “grab” photons without absorbing them or allowing them straight through.
Instead, the metallic materials would carry the photons within themselves and then emit them from the other side as if they had travelled in a straight line directly through.
But first they would have to make the metamaterials, which would deflect light and sound and other force waves.
``It is a fascinating concept," said Steven G. Johnson, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an e-mail. ``But I suspect that you're unlikely to find it for sale anytime soon (except on Daigon Alley)."
If Pendry is right, such technology could be used for a variety of purposes, particularly for the military, for example, hiding military hardware etc.
But not to forget, developing such technology ALSO has its cons.
Where in the world is privacy!?
http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/5555/camouflage8gk.jpg