UC Riverside Researchers' Discovery Of Electrostatic Spin Topples Century-old Theory

Science Daily ^ | 4-3-2003 | Editorial Staff

[vannrox]

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- April 2, 2003 -- In a discovery that is likely to impact fields as diverse as atomic physics, chemistry and nanotechnology, researchers have identified a new physical phenomenon, electrostatic rotation, that, in the absence of friction, leads to spin. Because the electric force is one of the fundamental forces of nature, this leap forward in understanding may help reveal how the smallest building blocks in nature react to form solids, liquids and gases that constitute the material world around us.

Scientists Anders Wistrom and Armik Khachatourian of University of California, Riverside first observed the electrostatic rotation in static experiments that consisted of three metal spheres suspended by thin metal wires, and published their observations in Applied Physics Letters. When a DC voltage was applied to the spheres they began to rotate until the stiffness of the suspending wires prevented further rotation. The observed electrostatic rotation was not expected and could not be explained by available theory.

Wistrom and Khachatourian designed the study with concepts they had developed earlier. "Experimental and theoretical work from our laboratory suggested that the cumulative effect of electric charges would be an asymmetric force if the charges sitting on the surface of spheres were asymmetrically distributed," said Wistrom. "In the experiments, we could control the charge distribution by controlling the relative position of the three spheres."

Yet, for more than 200 years, researchers have known only about the push and pull of electric forces between objects with like or unlike charges. Since as early as 1854, when Thomson, later to become Lord Kelvin, theorized about an electric potential surrounding charged objects, scientists have concentrated on understanding how electric and magnetic phenomena are related.

"While Thomson's hypothesis of electric potential has brought enormous benefits when it comes to modern electromagnetic technologies, we now realize that his definition of electric potential was not exact," said Wistrom. "The effects are particularly noticeable when the spheres are very close to one another." (Electric potential is the ratio of the work done by an external force in moving a charge from one point to another divided by the magnitude of the charge.)

Indeed, the general applicability of Thomson's theory has not been tested experimentally or theoretically until now. In the Journal of Mathematical Physics, Wistrom and Khachatourian recently published the breakthrough that provides the theoretical underpinnings for electrostatic rotation. "It is very satisfying to learn that electrostatic rotation can be predicted by the simple laws of voltage and force that date back at least 200 years," Wistrom said.

He added, "This is curiosity driven research that starts with a simple question and ultimately leads to findings that will likely have impacts across many fields of science and engineering. Because electrostatic rotation without friction leads to spin, we can only speculate how this discovery will provide new approaches to aid the investigation of fundamental properties of matter."

Spin is used in quantum mechanics to explain phenomena at the nuclear, atomic, and molecular domains for which there is no concrete physical picture. "So the discovery of electrostatic rotation and the identification of electrostatic spin as a natural phenomenon opens up an entirely new field of inquiry with the potential for significant advances," Wistrom said.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote any part of this story, please credit University Of California - Riverside as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/04/030403072949.htm

[vannrox]

Cool. And shocking!

[El Sordo]

Anyone want to put that in layman's terms for those of us who are not electrically inclined?

[HighRoadToChina]

BUMP!

[EternalVigilance]

Now the Greens are going to want to ban Static-Guard....

[Slyfox]

[homeagain balkansvet]

But What Does It Mean?

I'm still working on that perpetual motion machine, just a few kinks yet....

[Southack]

In my classes, this old "effect" was called the right-hand rule. Hardly new...

[remitrom]

Now we know the physics behind media spin.

[Quix]

As a rather ignorant but moderately read layman,

bells are going off that this is somehow related to zero point energy.

OK, scream tinfoil hat all you wish.

Tnen perhaps someone with a fair minded perspective and some significant reading on the topic will tell me whether my notion is totally far fetched or not.

[Slyfox]

[JusPasenThru]

This is just the point I've been trying to make for years....

[John Locke]

Run a current through some spheres and they start to rotate. Not enough detail in the story to say why - could be the old right-hand rule; could be some interaction with the Earth's magnetic field. One thing for sure - nobody is creating angular momentum out of thin air.

Not particularly new - Toshiro Higuchi at the University of Tokyo has been working on applications of electrostatic rotation for several years now. And I don't see what is so exciting - the idea that macroscopic "rotation" has anything to do with quantum mechanical "spin" seems totally off the wall.

[EternalVigilance]

The dreaded red x....

[aruanan]

The observed electrostatic rotation was not expected and could not be explained by available theory.

PINK MATTER ALERT

[waspguy]

On a quick read:

Basic understanding of the Electric force says that it simply has a radial component - no angular dependence. (It only pushes or pulls along the line separating the two charges.)

This result would seem to indictate that there is a (as yet unknown) component of electricity which causes things to want to rotate around some axis as well.

My gut feeling is to be pretty sceptical. My first objection is a symetry objection - how would the charge be able to decide which axis to rotate around? There would have to be some prefered directionality in space-time for this to be true, and that's not observed in other places.

On the other hand, we have no idea why electron's exhibit magnetic moments and have an associated "spin". If there is some effect like this - then the electron (and proton) spin might necessarily follow.

(Interesting side note - neutrons have spin and yet are electrically neutral. I've seen this attributed to the magnetic moments of the constituent quarks - I wonder if there's a way to test the new model via this mechanism?)

Ah well - I think I'll wait for other verification. If true this is certainly unexpected.

[templar]

There would have to be some prefered directionality in space-time for this to be true, and that's not observed in other places.

What, exactly, would a preferred direction in space-time consist of, and how would it be measured?

[Born to Conserve]

Simply put: "Electrostatic spin is cold fusion without the cold or the fusion."

[aruanan]

In my classes, this old "effect" was called the right-hand rule. Hardly new...

The right-hand rule deals with an electric current. The news above deals with an electrostatic charge.

The right-hand rule for force on a conductor can be used to determine the direction of the force experienced on the conductor. If the right thumb points in the direction of the current in the conductor and the fingers of the right hand point in the direction of the external magnetic field, then the force on the conductor is directed outward from the palm of the right hand.

[waspguy]

Re: a preferred direction in spacetime...

That's the problem. According to Relativity, there can be no preferred frame of reference. My "up" is no more valid than your "up". If electrostatic charges were to setup some sort of spin - then that would have to be spin around an axis. But given the spherical symmetry of the situation, how would the charge be able to pick an axis out all the possible choices?

My argument is similar to a question once posed to me by my thesis advisor - "Why is it that the Laplace operator shows up so often in physics?" A: Because it's the simplest rotationaly invariant operator - the simplest way to ensure there's no prefered direction in the Universe.

For this result to be true (and it might be for all I know) we'll have to toss out most of our understanding of classical physics - but then replace it with something that gives exactly the same results in most cases, but now includes this unexpected result. You'd have to toss out most of classical physics (and Quantum mechanics as well since it has the Laplace operator in the Schroedinger equation as well.)

I guess it just seems to me that there's too much beauty in the symmetry arguments of classical physics to do such a thing.

(Of course I'll bet Ptolomey felt the same way about the geo-centric universe. Grin.)

[Southack]

"When a DC voltage was applied to the spheres they began to rotate until the stiffness of the suspending wires prevented further rotation."