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Wow!
MSN explains:
http://futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/19/8398355-video-wows-with-quantum-levitation
Quantum physics is the mind-bending study of matter and energy at its smallest scales. It can be difficult to grasp, no doubt. But this video of a smoking cold disk that appears to float in midair just might make you try.
The trick works due to something called quantum levitation, explain the scientists from Tel Aviv University in Israel. And they hope you'll ask: what's that? The apparently floating disk is a sapphire crystal that has been coated with a very thin layer of ceramic material called yttrium barium copper oxide. At room temperature, it has no interesting magnetic or electrical properties, the group explains. However, when cooled below minus 301 degrees F, it becomes a superconductor, which means it conducts electricity without resistance. No energy is lost. Now, it turns out that superconductors and magnetic fields don't play nice with each other. Usually, the superconductor will expel the magnetic field, something called the Meissner effect. But when the superconductor is really thin, such as the one in this video, the magnetic field penetrates. Of course, since we are talking about quantum physics here, it does so in a strange way. It creates flux tubes. These tubes, in turn, trap the superconductor in midair. The result is called quantum locking, that is the superconductor is locked in space."
I have to go to work but I've been thinking about some quantum mechanics with relation to Einstein, ("Einstein's Unfinished Symphony") Feynman, and Al-Khalili, i.e. "The Measurement Problem", "Gravity doesn't exist", and "The Illusion of Reality" with relation to unsolved issues in quantum mechanics, and the superconductivity of gold- and I'll discuss later today. It's related to the bible, lol. Come back later for update. Meanwhile, cool video clip!!
MSN explains:
http://futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/19/8398355-video-wows-with-quantum-levitation
Quantum physics is the mind-bending study of matter and energy at its smallest scales. It can be difficult to grasp, no doubt. But this video of a smoking cold disk that appears to float in midair just might make you try.
The trick works due to something called quantum levitation, explain the scientists from Tel Aviv University in Israel. And they hope you'll ask: what's that? The apparently floating disk is a sapphire crystal that has been coated with a very thin layer of ceramic material called yttrium barium copper oxide. At room temperature, it has no interesting magnetic or electrical properties, the group explains. However, when cooled below minus 301 degrees F, it becomes a superconductor, which means it conducts electricity without resistance. No energy is lost. Now, it turns out that superconductors and magnetic fields don't play nice with each other. Usually, the superconductor will expel the magnetic field, something called the Meissner effect. But when the superconductor is really thin, such as the one in this video, the magnetic field penetrates. Of course, since we are talking about quantum physics here, it does so in a strange way. It creates flux tubes. These tubes, in turn, trap the superconductor in midair. The result is called quantum locking, that is the superconductor is locked in space."
I have to go to work but I've been thinking about some quantum mechanics with relation to Einstein, ("Einstein's Unfinished Symphony") Feynman, and Al-Khalili, i.e. "The Measurement Problem", "Gravity doesn't exist", and "The Illusion of Reality" with relation to unsolved issues in quantum mechanics, and the superconductivity of gold- and I'll discuss later today. It's related to the bible, lol. Come back later for update. Meanwhile, cool video clip!!
Comments
There are 2 things I understand from this post:
ReplyDelete1) You are really smart because I can't even...
2)We serve an unfathomably intelligent and
creative God.
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know about smart...but I was happened to be watching a documentary on Einstein last night. I like quantum physics and though I have no training in that area I like to learn about stuff. I don't understand it all, certainly! I learned in the Einstein video that Einstein had a problem with quantum mechanics.
Quantum mechanics is the study of really small things, subatomic particles and the like. It is a mathematical machine for predicting the behaviors of microscopic particles.
Regular physics is the study of really large things, like celestial orbits, gravity, etc. Now as to the large things, we can predict the tides. We can predict the orbits. We can predict gravity. It's orderly and these things follow a pattern.
All physicists thought that the same laws of physics applied at the subatomic side of things too (once they found out there WAS a subatomic side!). However, after Einstein's theories of Relativity and paper on Light (which won the Nobel prize) he ended up spending a great amount of time on attempting to unify the two (micro and macro). He simply couldn't believe that a different set of laws would govern the large and the small. He thought that the small HAD to be orderly, knowable, and consistent with the large.
He thought that if physicists tried really, really hard, they would discover all there was to know about both sides of the coin and all the laws could be reconciled. His famous quote, "God does not play dice" was uttered to fellow physicist when discussing the problem of the two different sets of laws of physics. Einstein was convinced he could learn the key if he just looked hard enough. What he didn't think of was that God was not playing dice but just that Einstein didn't know what God was doing, exactly.
Ultimately he spent the last years of his life in seclusion, searching for the key to a unified theory, convinced that he could penetrate the universe's secrets. It is a terrible ending, because the bible tells us that we cannot know the mind of God and Einstein's pursuit was ultimately on of attempting to know all that God knows and learn all that God does.
1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
I'm just so fascinated with these concepts.
....wha? LOL...
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, trust me, you are smart but most importantly you are filled with God's wisdom!
Well, Anonymous, thank you!
ReplyDelete