Thread: Is a wavelength actually a spiral?

While reading about a fancy new microscope, and the talk of microscopes being limited the the size of a wavelength got me thinking of the physical wavelength hitting the optical sensors (not the 2d ones we're used to seeing on paper and screens), and in a 3d world it seems much more likely that the wavelengths would be spinning in some type of helix.

Which in itself doesn't seem to mean much, but that got me thinking of why they would spin around. Could protons and electrons spinning around each other like planets cause this spiral effect?

if I'm right, is this at all significant? Even if it's just me having a slightly better understanding of the universe?


http://www.popsci.com/technology/art...n-cells-no-ele

Originally Posted by Bene

While reading about a fancy new microscope, and the talk of microscopes being limited the the size of a wavelength got me thinking of the physical wavelength hitting the optical sensors (not the 2d ones we're used to seeing on paper and screens), and in a 3d world it seems much more likely that the wavelengths would be spinning in some type of helix.

Which in itself doesn't seem to mean much, but that got me thinking of why they would spin around. Could protons and electrons spinning around each other like planets cause this spiral effect?

if I'm right, is this at all significant? Even if it's just me having a slightly better understanding of the universe?


http://www.popsci.com/technology/art...n-cells-no-ele

What you are describing is "circularly polarized" light. That is possible, but it is not the only state of a light wave. It is not related to wavelength.

so then is the "2d wavelength" I'm thinking of just a visual representation of something that's not actually there?

is a light or radio "wave" more of just a measurement of how close together particles follow each other through space?

Originally Posted by Bene

so then is the "2d wavelength" I'm thinking of just a visual representation of something that's not actually there?

is a light or radio "wave" more of just a measurement of how close together particles follow each other through space?

http://missionscience.nasa.gov/ems/02_anatomy.html
http://www.astronomynotes.com/light/s3.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_(waves)

So we can expect another new optical disc with far higher capacity than bluray.

That's been the trend. It's not going to stop now!

Originally Posted by Twit of wit

So we can expect another new optical disc with far higher capacity than bluray.

We seem to be moving away from disks and more towards solid state storage devices actually. Can't wait for magnetic RAM (mRAM), that's been in development for over 50 years now.

Originally Posted by Bene

While reading about a fancy new microscope, and the talk of microscopes being limited the the size of a wavelength got me thinking of the physical wavelength hitting the optical sensors (not the 2d ones we're used to seeing on paper and screens), and in a 3d world it seems much more likely that the wavelengths would be spinning in some type of helix.

Which in itself doesn't seem to mean much, but that got me thinking of why they would spin around. Could protons and electrons spinning around each other like planets cause this spiral effect?

if I'm right, is this at all significant? Even if it's just me having a slightly better understanding of the universe?


http://www.popsci.com/technology/art...n-cells-no-ele

Wavelength is a measurement of the physical distance over which a wave takes to complete one cycle. The shape or form of the wave has no impact on the wavelength.