Posted on 01/29/2017 5:02:45 AM PST by Mechanicos
For months now, there's been speculation that researchers might have finally created time crystals - strange crystals that have an atomic structure that repeats not just in space, but in time, putting them in perpetual motion without energy. ... But time crystals have a structure that repeats in time, not just in space. And it keep oscillating in its ground state. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencealert.com ...
Very cool, thanks for posting!
Not really a perpetual motion machine in the sense of classic physics.
This “motion” requires no energy. Time crystals replicate themselves in the time dimension instead of the three(?) physical dimensions.
What a world we live in!
It's The Blob.
Someday scientists will discover more forms of matter than liberals have discovered different “genders”.
There actually are others: Bose-Einstein condensate, Fermionic condensate, neutron-degenerate matter, quark-gluon plasma, etc.
The papers refer to 'non-equilibrium' states - shooting lasers at the atoms - so how is this 'perpetual motion without energy'?
No they would not spread, no energy is gained. Energy is just not lost. If it cannot be lost, then it would be completely inert.
When you "nudge" something, you put energy into it. When it responds to the "nudge" it is hardly an example of "Perpetual Motion".
There are many examples of systems that respond to a "nudge" at higher orders than the frequency of the "nudge". None of these is an example of perpetual motion. They are simply examples of non-linear systems.
How important is this discovery when compared to dilithium crystals?
Not exactly....if this pans out it opens lots of interesting research
The Maryland set up actually is inputting energy from the pulse laser. Just because you get a response in a harmonic doesn’t necessarily mean much
Who wrote this, Sheldon or Howard..or maybe Penny?
Wow!
Long ago, I had an EE education, which included mild exposure to solid state physics and quantum mechanics. This is way, way beyond anything I could ever have imagined. I wonder what the applications will be.
Not necessarily. Nothing in the papers suggest it is growing just that they have a crystal which replicates doesn’t say the first one survives
‘Twice the period’ sounds like a simple resonance harmonic like a piano string.
So where do the crystals go?
Pssst. Got a minute?
I’m up to 180...
They’re perpetual as long as the scientists receive the grant money to research them.
“.........won’t that crystal eventually come to occupy every space and moment of the universe?”.......
Not sure I’m going to be around to find out.
That was my first thought too. All they’ve done is excite a resonant harmonic in the crystal. But I admit the “replicating” phenomenon has me baffled.
No, good guess. You're thinking of Administratium -- which is characterized by its *lack* of movement; and which President Trump is presently trying to eradicate.
Ha. Good one.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.