Aquatic-Vocation t1_iugl2w0 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 3:58 AM

Reply to comment by somneuronaut in Is there such a thing as a gamma radiation mirror? by AlarmingAffect0

So this is a real-life force-field? If you could isolate it and tried to walk into it, you'd hit a wall?

Byrmaxson t1_iugnjvz wrote on October 31, 2022 at 4:25 AM

Less wall and more if you approach within a certain distance you'll be atomized entirely, but yes, it's basically a sci-fi force field.

ajt9000 t1_iuguhxb wrote on October 31, 2022 at 5:52 AM

Aah so its a ray shield. No, this i completely understand.

So, should we spring the trap?

[deleted] t1_iuiaagm wrote on October 31, 2022 at 3:22 PM

[removed]

fastspinecho t1_iugnpx7 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 4:26 AM

Keep in mind that a wall is mostly empty space. It's the electrons in the wall that stop you from walking through it.

AlarmingAffect0 OP t1_iui1m2d wrote on October 31, 2022 at 2:22 PM

… You can tell an insight is really clever when it's

illuminating
obvious in retrospect
would never have occurred to you to phrase it that way.

Thanks for the idea.

rootofallworlds t1_iuihm0d wrote on October 31, 2022 at 4:12 PM

More like a disintegration field. You know how atoms are round? Not in a magnetic field of 10^5 Tesla or more they aren't. The magnetic field is strong enough to distort the electron orbitals into narrow rods and ordinary molecules just fall apart. https://www.osti.gov/etdeweb/biblio/6961623 To borrow a phrase from Randall Munroe, "you would stop being biology and start being physics."

Oh, and the vacuum becomes birefringent - the speed of light depends on its polarisation.