• Question: Could light ever be made into a solid element?

    Asked by to Amy, Anita, Daryl, Nimesh, Sandra on 20 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Anita Thomas

      Anita Thomas answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      decimusburton, what a great question! I think that if we could make light into a solid element, then we would have made a really fantastic power source – could be fuel for ‘warp drive’ and the like.

      Plants already convert light into a solid element, in their own way. They can perform quantum biology in their chloroplasts to convert light into energy-rich chemicals (like ATP and NADPH). Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll, which give plants their green colour. This is a really interesting area of current research, and not one that I’m too familiar with. For example, I’m not sure whether the chlorophyll uses the particle or the energy form of light (did I mention that light was tricky?) when it converts it. I have a musical friend who has just finished a PhD in this area – I’ll ask him when I see him next! Dying to know for myself now!

      Thanks for the idea – a really interesting one!
      Cheers,
      Anita.

    • Photo: Amy Monaghan

      Amy Monaghan answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      This is an incredible question!

      Honestly I have no idea! But like Anita has said many organisms already use light to create energy such as plants and bacteria, so I suppose the potential is there. I imagine the problem with light as a solid is that solids have a much lower energy state than liquids or gases. If light was to become any element, it has such a high energy state that I think it would only exist as a gas. The other problem with light as an element is that elements are made up of atoms, which are in turn made of subatomic particles called electons, neutrons and protons. Light is made up of protons only so it would have to combine with other things in order to make an atom and an element. I think!

      Tough question!

    • Photo: Daryl Jones

      Daryl Jones answered on 20 Jun 2014:

      Such an intelligent question!! I recently read an article which had made significant profress in this field, by studying a special bacteria- so yes, one day i do think we will create a solid element from light.

      In 2013, scientists created “solid light”
      Check out the sroty here, and see what it might mean for lightsabers!! 🙂

      http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/09/26/light-solid-lightsabers-nature_n_3996982.html

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