2014/05/01 [PF #312] - A trick of the light

[ZacAttac21]

I've been waiting for this page. Could somebody please explain how she used photon tunneling to alter the x-ray? I know more or less what photon tunneling is (assuming Wikipedia is accurate) but I don't see how it applies here.

[Tapewolf]

I've been waiting for this page. Could somebody please explain how she used photon tunneling to alter the x-ray? I know more or less what photon tunneling is (assuming Wikipedia is accurate) but I don't see how it applies here.

It's more photon redirection, I guess. What she's actually doing is rerouting the x-ray photons in flight to draw a different picture on the sensor than what is really there.
Bonus points if she's able to tunnel the photons through/around herself so they don't irradiate her.

[Naldru]

This seems appropriate.

I'm trying to display the image with " Every time you try to drag real physics into a discussion about a fantasy world, God kills a cat girl", but it isn't working right.

However, you can click on the link below.
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/images/respectscience/catgirls.gif

[Tapewolf]

I'm trying to display the image with " Every time you try to drag real physics into a discussion about a fantasy world, God kills a cat girl", but it isn't working right.

However, you can click on the link below.

That isn't working either - probably protected against people cross-linking to it.

FWIW I think the world could do with a few less catgirls anyway ;-)

[ZacAttac21]

Now that I think about it, I wonder how they deal with the gaping holes in the back of their shirts. I mean, doesn't that just scream "Creature"?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Now that I think about it, I wonder how they deal with the gaping holes in the back of their shirts. I mean, doesn't that just scream "Creature"?

... the way Kria does, when she takes off her amulet? ;-]

[Tapewolf]

Now that I think about it, I wonder how they deal with the gaping holes in the back of their shirts. I mean, doesn't that just scream "Creature"?

That's not necessarily a big problem.  Being obviously 'Cubi might be, though.

[Merlin]

'cubi are pretty sneaky. I mean we saw earlier about how they managed to get clothing with clan markings on it taken as fashionable so they could easily blend in, I kind of imagine something similar with the open-backed shirts could have happened.

[Eboreg]

You know, you didn't have to go all technical with the "photon tunneling" stuff and could have just said that she made an illusion but with x-rays instead of visible light.

[Tapewolf]

You know, you didn't have to go all technical with the "photon tunneling" stuff and could have just said that she made an illusion but with x-rays instead of visible light.

True, but I like going technical.

[Naldru]

True, but I like going technical.

So you prefer the Jules Verne approach to that of H.G. Wells.  Jules Verne always wanted to have long sections describing the details of his mechanical wonders.  H.G. Wells felt that any scientific explanation wouldn't sound right, and just presented his wonders (invisibility serum, time machine, the gravity blocking Cavorite, etc.) without explanation.

[Tapewolf]

So you prefer the Jules Verne approach to that of H.G. Wells.  Jules Verne always wanted to have long sections describing the details of his mechanical wonders.  H.G. Wells felt that any scientific explanation wouldn't sound right, and just presented his wonders (invisibility serum, time machine, the gravity blocking Cavorite, etc.) without explanation.

Hard SF tends to go for the technical approach.  And I have read an awful lot of it.