Skip to comments.
Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein's Strangest Theory
The New York Times ^
| December 27, 2005
| Dennis Overbye
Posted on 12/28/2005 1:42:38 PM PST by snarks_when_bored
December 27, 2005
Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein's Strangest Theory
By DENNIS OVERBYE
Einstein said there would be days like this.
This fall scientists announced that they had put a half dozen beryllium atoms into a "cat state."
No, they were not sprawled along a sunny windowsill. To a physicist, a "cat state" is the condition of being two diametrically opposed conditions at once, like black and white, up and down, or dead and alive.
These atoms were each spinning clockwise and counterclockwise at the same time. Moreover, like miniature Rockettes they were all doing whatever it was they were doing together, in perfect synchrony. Should one of them realize, like the cartoon character who runs off a cliff and doesn't fall until he looks down, that it is in a metaphysically untenable situation and decide to spin only one way, the rest would instantly fall in line, whether they were across a test tube or across the galaxy.
The idea that measuring the properties of one particle could instantaneously change the properties of another one (or a whole bunch) far away is strange to say the least - almost as strange as the notion of particles spinning in two directions at once. The team that pulled off the beryllium feat, led by Dietrich Leibfried at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in Boulder, Colo., hailed it as another step toward computers that would use quantum magic to perform calculations.
But ...
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
TOPICS: Extended News; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: bohr; einstein; entanglement; eprparadox; heisenberg; physics; quantuminformation; quantummechanics; quantumphysics; schroedinger; science
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-60, 61-80, 81-100 ... 121-123 next last
To: DallasMike
You may be on the way towards proving the impossibility of the 'many-worlds' interpretation...
To: Bloody Sam Roberts
That's why the water in a bathtubs actually spins in the same direction in both the southern and the northern hemispheres. You just happen to be looking at it from underneath, when you're in the southern hemispheres.
To: snarks_when_bored
63
posted on
12/28/2005 4:49:19 PM PST
by
mikrofon
(Have spin will travel)
To: Right Wing Assault
To: RipSawyer
"Is reality really the "one illusion we all share"?"
More like where all our fantasies overlap. But then again, I'm a social studies major, and I'm going to have to retake trig before I can get anywhere even within seeing distance of someplace where I could understand the math...
65
posted on
12/28/2005 4:57:35 PM PST
by
Old Student
(WRM, MSgt, USAF(Ret.))
To: snarks_when_bored
66
posted on
12/28/2005 5:03:08 PM PST
by
Bellflower
(A new day is Coming!)
To: snarks_when_bored
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
To: Bloody Sam Roberts
I guess that means that the object is really only spinning in one direction, but the observer is observing it from opposite perspectives simultaneously. That means that the object is in a state that is not part of the recognized dimensions and is extra-dimensional for that brief instant in time (or out of time as the case may be).
68
posted on
12/28/2005 5:29:21 PM PST
by
lafroste
(gravity is not a force. See my profile to read my novel absolutely free (I know, beyond shameless))
To: snarks_when_bored
Did I give you permission to post my picture, Snarks? ;-)
69
posted on
12/28/2005 5:37:41 PM PST
by
grey_whiskers
(The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
To: snarks_when_bored
Tough engineering problem for the quantum computer guys. Yeah, the potential for vast amounts of information and speed exists but accessing the information without destroying it is a sticky wicket. Trials and tribulations.
70
posted on
12/28/2005 5:55:20 PM PST
by
jwalsh07
To: grey_whiskers
Did I give you permission to post my picture, Snarks? ;-)
I have discovered a truly marvelous 'dead cat bounce' joke, but this post is too brief to contain it.
To: lafroste
That means that the object is in a state that is not part of the recognized dimensions and is extra-dimensional for that brief instant in time (or out of time as the case may be). Excellent point and explanation.
Hey...it works for me.
72
posted on
12/28/2005 6:20:14 PM PST
by
Bloody Sam Roberts
(Crime cannot be tolerated. Criminals thrive on the indulgences of society's understanding.)
To: Maceman
two diametrically opposed conditions at once, like black and white...That's grade-school level quantum physics. How about when it black and white AND red all over????
73
posted on
12/28/2005 6:36:35 PM PST
by
Onelifetogive
(* Sarcasm tag ALWAYS required. For some FReepers, sarcasm can NEVER be obvious enough.)
To: Graymatter; theFIRMbss
Zeno would have loved this stuff. "Antelope Freeway, one half mile."
"Antelope Freeway, one quarter mile."
"Antelope Freeway, one sixteenth mile."
"Antelope Freeway, one thirty-second mile."
"Antelope Freeway, one sixty-fourth mile."
"Antelope Freeway, one one hundred twenty-eigth mile."
"Antelope Freeway, one two hundred fifty-sixth mile."
...
74
posted on
12/28/2005 6:42:57 PM PST
by
Erasmus
(Getting captivated by modern music leads to Stockhausen Syndrome.)
To: DallasMike
Once in a while, a wormhole opens and I can pick it up on 1600 AM.
75
posted on
12/28/2005 6:45:29 PM PST
by
Erasmus
(Getting captivated by modern music leads to Stockhausen Syndrome.)
To: Brilliant
Most of these guys are just capitalizing on the inability of the public (and more importantly, the guys who fund this research) to understand what they are doing, and what it proves or doesn't prove. I think they do it just to get chix...
To: Red Badger
No, but it might be the basis of a really neat way to share one time binary pads and get unbreakable encryption.
77
posted on
12/28/2005 7:02:43 PM PST
by
The_Reader_David
(And when they behead your own people in the wars which are to come, then you will know. . .)
To: DallasMike
I think you are confusing Evil Mr Spock fo Evil Prof Robinson.
To: DallasMike
Read "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" and "Number of the Beast"
In one reality there is a pleasant peaceful America where
they restarted their calendars from the day they lynched
all the lawyers.
79
posted on
12/28/2005 9:16:59 PM PST
by
higgmeister
(In the Shadow of The Big Chicken.)
To: snarks_when_bored
This fall scientists announced that they had put a half dozen beryllium atoms into a "cat state." Reportedly the result was a beryllium sphere.
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-60, 61-80, 81-100 ... 121-123 next last
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.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson