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Is there a physicist in the audience who can tell us what happens at sharp corners? I would assume things happen as the distance between the two mirrors becomes comparable to the light's wavelength.

> Is there a room which is so fiendishly complicated that wherever you hold the match there are some dark spots in the room? Nobody knows the answer...<p>Yes, if you allow walls to be curved:<p><a href="http://blog.zacharyabel.com/tag/unilluminable-rooms/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.zacharyabel.com/tag/unilluminable-rooms/</a>

More at <a href="http://mathworld.wolfram.com/IlluminationProblem.html" rel="nofollow">http://mathworld.wolfram.com/IlluminationProblem.html</a>.<p>(If curved mirrors are allowed the problem was solved by Roger Penrose and there are rooms that cannot be illuminated - see link.)

I feel like this problem is sitting on some big important concept, kind of like how topology expanded into a rich area of mathematics.

Is there a physicist in the audience who can tell us what happens at sharp corners? I would assume things happen as the distance between the two mirrors becomes comparable to the light's wavelength.

I feel like this problem is sitting on some big important concept, kind of like how topology expanded into a rich area of mathematics.

Mathematical mysteries: How unilluminating

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Mathematical mysteries: How unilluminating

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