Posted on 04/18/2010 9:20:21 PM PDT by neverdem
An artificial "black hole" designed to capture wayward atoms has been created. It paves the way for an atom trap that could yield previously unknown states of matter.
A team led by Lene Hau of Harvard University has mimicked the death spiral of matter falling into a cosmic black hole by applying a voltage across a carbon nanotube – a rolled-up sheet of carbon atoms. This created a powerful electric field that tugged at nearby rubidium atoms, which had been chilled to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero: a positive charge on the surface of the nanotubes attracts the rubidium atoms' electrons, while the positively charged nucleus is repelled.
This polarisation causes the atoms to spiral towards the nanotube, speeding them up until the atoms circle it in just a few trillionths of a second. Eventually each atom's outermost electron detaches and enters the nanotube through a process called quantum tunnelling. The positively charged rubidium ion that it leaves behind is repelled by the positively charged nanotube and slingshots away...
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Either the perfect doomsday device or perfect FTL drive
That is just like congress!
Years ago I read an article that said creating an ‘artificial quantum singularity (a black hole) would be the first step in ftl propulsion.
I agree it would
Well, that’s it, then. If that thing doubles in size every week...well, soon we won’t have to worry about taxes, Iran, climate change, liberals, and so on...:)
Ummmm......Does one have to get approval from some other before they go around creating black holes?
I wish I could find that article. It was written around 2004 or 2005 by Michio Kaku if I’m remembering correctly. The physics was way beyond me, but basically it said you could use, in theory, an artificial black hole to bend space around a craft and create a ‘space bubble’ around that craft. In theory, the ship doesn’t move but space around it does. Very strange stuff indeed.
LOL!
My definition includes the words “Al Sharpton” and Jesse Jackson”. Oh, and it adds an “A-” too.
Cool. Maybe I could fall into in and transport myself to an alternative earth that isn’t run by total a-holes.
LOL
Or...if you’re a fan of John Titor...the basis for time travel.
I think that one of the ideas was that if you could control a black hole perfectly, it’s size, and your distance from it, all distances shrink to zero at a point, so you could theoretically cross the universe instantly while actually moving a short distance slowly - which wouldn’t violate going “faster than light” relative to the “normal” framework.
ping.
Or you can travel to a parallel dimension
He has a book called “Visions” and “Parallel Worlds” which mentions it.
"I actually invented that before I invented the internet."
Michio Kaku may have big physics chops, but he’s also a big time, politically active, lib. I trust what he says - regarding anything - about as far as I trust the utterances of our current Sec. of Energy.
I’d rather look at a picture of Helen Thompson — Algore I just can’t stand. In fact, she looks so much more sincere and intelligent than this guy.
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