Eternal Clock Could Keep Time After Universe Dies

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Senior Writer


http://i.imgur.com/NKLiS.jpg

The idea for an eternal clock that would continue to keep time even after the universe ceased to exist has intrigued physicists. However, no one has figured out how one might be built, until now.

Researchers have now proposed an experimental design for a "space-time crystal" that would be able to keep time forever. This four-dimensional crystal would be similar to conventional 3D crystals, which are structures, like snowflakes and diamonds, whose atoms are arranged in repeating patterns. Whereas a diamond has a periodic structure in three dimensions, the space-time crystal would be periodic in time as well as space.

The idea of a 4D space-time crystal was first proposed earlier this year by MIT physicist Frank Wilczek, though the concept was purely theoretical. Now a team of researchers led by Xiang Zhang of California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has conceived of how to make one a reality.

"The idea of creating a crystal with dimensions higher than that of conventional 3D crystals is an important conceptual breakthrough in physics, and it is very exciting for us to be the first to devise a way to realize a space-time crystal," Berkeley Lab physicist Tongcang Li, a member of the research group, said in a statement.

Zhang and his colleagues suggest that a space-time crystal could be constructed using an electric field to trap charged atoms (called ions), and taking advantage of the natural repulsion between two like-charged particles (positive and positive, or negative and negative), which is called Coulomb repulsion.

http://i.imgur.com/NRZc5.jpg

"The electric field of the ion trap holds charged particles in place and Coulomb repulsion causes them to spontaneously form a spatial ring crystal," Zhang said. "Under the application of a weak static magnetic field, this ring-shaped ion crystal will begin a rotation that will never stop. The persistent rotation of trapped ions produces temporal order, leading to the formation of a space-time crystal at the lowest quantum energy state."

In other words, the scientists would aim to create a ring of charged particles, with the resulting electromagnetic forces causing the structure to rotate perpetually. At its lowest quantum-energy state, also known as its ground state, the system has no disorder, or entropy, and there is no way for its entropy to increase over time. Thus, the crystal's temporal structure and timekeeping ability would continue even after the universe reached a state of "heat death," also known as thermodynamic equilibrium, when it had devolved into entropy.

[Hal-9000]

:roll:

kinda like building a 4 dimensional vehicle when there's no one and nothing left to drive it....


derp derp durrhhhh, why?

[FBD]

clearly there's some crackpots out there that dont understand physics

[Acid Trip]

"The electric field of the ion trap holds charged particles in place and Coulomb repulsion causes them to spontaneously form a spatial ring crystal," Zhang said. "Under the application of a weak static magnetic field, this ring-shaped ion crystal will begin a rotation that will never stop. The persistent rotation of trapped ions produces temporal order, leading to the formation of a space-time crystal at the lowest quantum energy state."

In other words, the scientists would aim to create a ring of charged particles, with the resulting electromagnetic forces causing the structure to rotate perpetually. At its lowest quantum-energy state, also known as its ground state, the system has no disorder, or entropy, and there is no way for its entropy to increase over time. Thus, the crystal's temporal structure and timekeeping ability would continue even after the universe reached a state of "heat death," also known as thermodynamic equilibrium, when it had devolved into entropy.

Umm, if that were true then why not create a large scale clock and use it as a power source? Perpetual motion has been the goal of almost every Physicist since Physics was discovered/invented.

[Goofy]

Umm, if that were true then why not create a large scale clock and use it as a power source? Perpetual motion has been the goal of almost every Physicist since Physics was discovered/invented.

Yep, renewable cost free energy :) I created it one night while drunk but forgot it all by morning :sad2:

[Hal-9000]

Umm, if that were true then why not create a large scale clock and use it as a power source? Perpetual motion has been the goal of almost every Physicist since Physics was discovered/invented.

good point..


fckers still can't build a plastic container that keeps perishables fresh for more than a week :x

[Shady]

The concept is sound. It actually violates no laws of physics. Energy is put into a system and if there arent any outside forces that act upon it, it will obey the law of conservation of momentum, aka inertia. And it would be impossible for it to be used as an endless source of energy because its perpetual motion was created by an initial imput of energy, instead of your idea that its constantly generating energy. They have merely figured out a way of creating an indefinite closed system of conserving energy.

[FBD]

such a thing could spin for quite a while, but to make such a preposterous claim like "could still keep going after the collapse of the universe" shows some ignorant balls on the part of those saying it.