Physicists Propose "Perpetual Motion" Time Crystals 153
First time accepted submitter b30w0lf writes "It is commonly understood that crystals exist in a state of matter that is periodic in space. Meanwhile, relativistic physics tells us that we should think of time as being a physical dimension, given similar status to the other spacial dimensions. The combination of these two ideas has lead researchers at the University of Kentucky and MIT to propose special manifestations of matter which would be periodic in both space and time, dubbed 'time crystals.' Time crystals would continually transition between a set of physical states in a kind of perpetual motion. Note: the articles stress that this kind of perpetual motion in no way violates the established laws of thermodynamics. While time crystals remain theoretical, methods have been proposed for creating them. The most obvious application of time crystals is the creation of very precise clocks; however, other applications to time crystals have been proposed, ranging from quantum computing to helping us understand certain cosmological models."
It's like Seinfeld. (Score:1, Insightful)
A energy state about nothing.
Re:commonly understood (Score:5, Insightful)
It is commonly understood that crystals exist in a state of matter that is periodic in space.
If your Bullshit Detector didn't go off as soon you read this in the original post
Mine didn't. Does yours need calibration [wikipedia.org]?
A crystal structure is composed of a pattern, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a lattice exhibiting long-range order and symmetry. Patterns are located upon the points of a lattice, which is an array of points repeating periodically in three dimensions.
Periodicity is a well-defined concept.
Re:Attention Radical Free Software Leftists! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They do not propose "Perpetual Motion" (Score:5, Insightful)
so at least mechanically, nothing is happening.
It's like calling electrons around a proton a "perpetual motion machine". You get perpetual motion, so long as you don't extract energy from it. In fact, from that definition, the heat death of the universe is itself a perpetual motion machine, as everything will be vibrating/moving in entropy. No work may be extracted.
Re:Attention Radical Free Software Leftists! (Score:4, Insightful)
http://taxfoundation.org/blog/why-do-some-states-feast-federal-spending-not-others [taxfoundation.org]
As for your disillusioned Obama comment... He wants to make people pay their fair share of taxes while Romney wants the middle class to "distribute" their wealth up the chain so it lands in some dudes bank account, not helping the economy at all. Spending money helps the economy, hoarding it doesn't.