Light Times Two
My Xmas Tree 2015
The speed of light is constant,
That’s what you think you know.
But only in a vacuum.
Through glass it can go slow.
An index of refraction
Predicts the speed of light,
Determines how the wave is bent
On its
transverse flight.
Some light transmits through the glass,
And some will be reflected.
Brewster’s angles, Fresnel calcs,
The focal length
of lenses.
So with great precision,
With science as explainer,
Every light on
my Christmas tree,
In the window,
has a doppelganger.
Kate Rauner
Optics is a fascinating field. Consider the refractive index at wikipedia.
I’ve read that light has momentum, so that’s why light sails work in space. Weird thought
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What a wonderful poem about light. Where is the awesome amount of energy lurking for the awesome propulsion even in something as tiny as lightning bug?
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