Cave/Subterranean Lighting
I have a cave that is ravine like and stretches approximately one kilometer down into the Earth. Let's assume that the cave has a clear, crystalline roof allowing some light in.
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I want the cave to have enough available light for average plants and such to grow with the upper half of the ravine.
environment flora
edited 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
asked 5 hours ago
Thalassan
502110
add a comment |
I have a cave that is ravine like and stretches approximately one kilometer down into the Earth. Let's assume that the cave has a clear, crystalline roof allowing some light in.
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I want the cave to have enough available light for average plants and such to grow with the upper half of the ravine.
environment flora
edited 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
asked 5 hours ago
Thalassan
502110
add a comment |
I have a cave that is ravine like and stretches approximately one kilometer down into the Earth. Let's assume that the cave has a clear, crystalline roof allowing some light in.
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I want the cave to have enough available light for average plants and such to grow with the upper half of the ravine.
environment flora
edited 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
asked 5 hours ago
Thalassan
502110
I have a cave that is ravine like and stretches approximately one kilometer down into the Earth. Let's assume that the cave has a clear, crystalline roof allowing some light in.
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I want the cave to have enough available light for average plants and such to grow with the upper half of the ravine.
environment flora
environment flora
edited 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
asked 5 hours ago
Thalassan
502110
edited 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
asked 5 hours ago
Thalassan
502110
edited 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
edited 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
edited 4 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
75.3k24180366
asked 5 hours ago
Thalassan
502110
asked 5 hours ago
Thalassan
502110
asked 5 hours ago
Thalassan
502110
502110
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Ice.
https://www.getyourguide.com/joekulsarlon-l2030/crystal-ice-cave-tour-from-jokulsarlon-t73050/
The Icelandic ice caves (in glaciers) are made of translucent ice which admits sunlight from above. The light bounces around, refracting within the ice, reflecting off of other ice surfaces within the cave and illuminating the interior to a degree you would never see in a regular stone cave.
answered 3 hours ago
Willk
100k25191423
1
100K! Congratulations! Also, does this meet the OP's requirement that plants can grow? Less light is needed to illuminate than to sustain life.
– JBH
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I am afraid not. While it can happen that some naturally occurring materials are transparent (think gems), to have reflection you need to have both the right material AND the right surface condition, meaning a polished surface.
While some metals can be worked to make a pretty decent mirror, they never naturally come in nicely polished surface state. They shine, but don't reflect like a mirror.
Think of gold or silver nuggets, since they are the only two naturally occurring metals.
You can still have reflective surfaces in the right conditions, like grazing light on water surface, but that would
- complicate the internal design of your caves to have the light traveling deep into the cave
- work only in precise moments of the day, since the external light source won't be stationary in the sky
answered 3 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
Thanks for your Input! Any possible way I could explain naturally occuring silver and gold deposits that are polished. Whether it be through natural chemical or physical means.
– Thalassan
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "579"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f134643%2fcave-subterranean-lighting%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Ice.
https://www.getyourguide.com/joekulsarlon-l2030/crystal-ice-cave-tour-from-jokulsarlon-t73050/
The Icelandic ice caves (in glaciers) are made of translucent ice which admits sunlight from above. The light bounces around, refracting within the ice, reflecting off of other ice surfaces within the cave and illuminating the interior to a degree you would never see in a regular stone cave.
answered 3 hours ago
Willk
100k25191423
1
100K! Congratulations! Also, does this meet the OP's requirement that plants can grow? Less light is needed to illuminate than to sustain life.
– JBH
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Ice.
https://www.getyourguide.com/joekulsarlon-l2030/crystal-ice-cave-tour-from-jokulsarlon-t73050/
The Icelandic ice caves (in glaciers) are made of translucent ice which admits sunlight from above. The light bounces around, refracting within the ice, reflecting off of other ice surfaces within the cave and illuminating the interior to a degree you would never see in a regular stone cave.
answered 3 hours ago
Willk
100k25191423
1
100K! Congratulations! Also, does this meet the OP's requirement that plants can grow? Less light is needed to illuminate than to sustain life.
– JBH
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Ice.
https://www.getyourguide.com/joekulsarlon-l2030/crystal-ice-cave-tour-from-jokulsarlon-t73050/
The Icelandic ice caves (in glaciers) are made of translucent ice which admits sunlight from above. The light bounces around, refracting within the ice, reflecting off of other ice surfaces within the cave and illuminating the interior to a degree you would never see in a regular stone cave.
answered 3 hours ago
Willk
100k25191423
Ice.
https://www.getyourguide.com/joekulsarlon-l2030/crystal-ice-cave-tour-from-jokulsarlon-t73050/
The Icelandic ice caves (in glaciers) are made of translucent ice which admits sunlight from above. The light bounces around, refracting within the ice, reflecting off of other ice surfaces within the cave and illuminating the interior to a degree you would never see in a regular stone cave.
answered 3 hours ago
Willk
100k25191423
answered 3 hours ago
Willk
100k25191423
answered 3 hours ago
Willk
100k25191423
answered 3 hours ago
Willk
100k25191423
100k25191423
1
100K! Congratulations! Also, does this meet the OP's requirement that plants can grow? Less light is needed to illuminate than to sustain life.
– JBH
2 hours ago
add a comment |
1
100K! Congratulations! Also, does this meet the OP's requirement that plants can grow? Less light is needed to illuminate than to sustain life.
– JBH
2 hours ago
1
1
100K! Congratulations! Also, does this meet the OP's requirement that plants can grow? Less light is needed to illuminate than to sustain life.
– JBH
2 hours ago
100K! Congratulations! Also, does this meet the OP's requirement that plants can grow? Less light is needed to illuminate than to sustain life.
– JBH
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I am afraid not. While it can happen that some naturally occurring materials are transparent (think gems), to have reflection you need to have both the right material AND the right surface condition, meaning a polished surface.
While some metals can be worked to make a pretty decent mirror, they never naturally come in nicely polished surface state. They shine, but don't reflect like a mirror.
Think of gold or silver nuggets, since they are the only two naturally occurring metals.
You can still have reflective surfaces in the right conditions, like grazing light on water surface, but that would
- complicate the internal design of your caves to have the light traveling deep into the cave
- work only in precise moments of the day, since the external light source won't be stationary in the sky
answered 3 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
Thanks for your Input! Any possible way I could explain naturally occuring silver and gold deposits that are polished. Whether it be through natural chemical or physical means.
– Thalassan
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I am afraid not. While it can happen that some naturally occurring materials are transparent (think gems), to have reflection you need to have both the right material AND the right surface condition, meaning a polished surface.
While some metals can be worked to make a pretty decent mirror, they never naturally come in nicely polished surface state. They shine, but don't reflect like a mirror.
Think of gold or silver nuggets, since they are the only two naturally occurring metals.
You can still have reflective surfaces in the right conditions, like grazing light on water surface, but that would
- complicate the internal design of your caves to have the light traveling deep into the cave
- work only in precise moments of the day, since the external light source won't be stationary in the sky
answered 3 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
Thanks for your Input! Any possible way I could explain naturally occuring silver and gold deposits that are polished. Whether it be through natural chemical or physical means.
– Thalassan
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I am afraid not. While it can happen that some naturally occurring materials are transparent (think gems), to have reflection you need to have both the right material AND the right surface condition, meaning a polished surface.
While some metals can be worked to make a pretty decent mirror, they never naturally come in nicely polished surface state. They shine, but don't reflect like a mirror.
Think of gold or silver nuggets, since they are the only two naturally occurring metals.
You can still have reflective surfaces in the right conditions, like grazing light on water surface, but that would
- complicate the internal design of your caves to have the light traveling deep into the cave
- work only in precise moments of the day, since the external light source won't be stationary in the sky
answered 3 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
Is there any sort of crystal, mineral, substance, or something else naturally occurring that could reflect light into most parts of the cave?
I am afraid not. While it can happen that some naturally occurring materials are transparent (think gems), to have reflection you need to have both the right material AND the right surface condition, meaning a polished surface.
While some metals can be worked to make a pretty decent mirror, they never naturally come in nicely polished surface state. They shine, but don't reflect like a mirror.
Think of gold or silver nuggets, since they are the only two naturally occurring metals.
You can still have reflective surfaces in the right conditions, like grazing light on water surface, but that would
- complicate the internal design of your caves to have the light traveling deep into the cave
- work only in precise moments of the day, since the external light source won't be stationary in the sky
answered 3 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
answered 3 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
answered 3 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
answered 3 hours ago
L.Dutch♦
75.3k24180366
75.3k24180366
Thanks for your Input! Any possible way I could explain naturally occuring silver and gold deposits that are polished. Whether it be through natural chemical or physical means.
– Thalassan
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Thanks for your Input! Any possible way I could explain naturally occuring silver and gold deposits that are polished. Whether it be through natural chemical or physical means.
– Thalassan
1 hour ago
Thanks for your Input! Any possible way I could explain naturally occuring silver and gold deposits that are polished. Whether it be through natural chemical or physical means.
– Thalassan
1 hour ago
Thanks for your Input! Any possible way I could explain naturally occuring silver and gold deposits that are polished. Whether it be through natural chemical or physical means.
– Thalassan
1 hour ago
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Worldbuilding Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f134643%2fcave-subterranean-lighting%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
