• Question: What sort of laserdo you use ; does it travel at the speed of light?

    Asked by rooksy to Jimmy on 11 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: James Holloway

      James Holloway answered on 11 Mar 2013:

      Hi rooksy,

      I use was whats called an ultra-short laser. That means it doesn’t send out a constant laser beam, but a really short one with lots and lots of energy crammed into it. Here is a pic of what the laser looks like:

      All that kit is there to make a laser beam smaller than the width of your hair (seems pretty crazy).

      The laser beam does travel at the speed of light for most of its journey (when we pump all of the air out of its path). But then we crash it into some helium (the stuff that makes balloons float) and it slows down a tiny bit as it pushes its way through.

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