Last week, Mohideen and his team announced they had measured this lateral force. They placed two corrugated gold plates a few hundred nanometers apart with their peaks and troughs aligned. When they moved the plates slightly out of alignment, they detected a force of a few piconewtons that pushed them back into position. At this point, you dont get out any more energy than you put in, but its the first time that virtual particles have been cajoled into doing work in this way. The researchers are now trying to generate other effects, such as a repulsive force and a "dynamic Casimir effect" that moves plates back and forth. The teams measurements could also pick up signs of other as yet undiscovered fundamental forces, as well as evidence of extra spatial dimensions that some theorists predict are "curled up" on a tiny scale. "We should be able to place limits on the size of these effects," says Mohideen.
http://www.cosmiverse.com/space01310203.html
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Popular Posts
-
...These measures, based on the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) give far too much power to publishers, at the expense of individu...
-
William Gibson's latest novel, Spook Country is awesome. Not as frantic or kinetic as Pattern Recognition or All Tomorrow's Parti...
-
This is not bad. A mix of 70s rock and 80s punk with some good lyrics. Songs range from boring to excellent. Id give it a B+. http://www.ama...
-
The challenge of having the United States as a neighbour was one of the topics discussed Tuesday during a meeting with Mexican President Vic...
-
Here's my (edited) journal entry for this event dated 12/01/98: Wow. I just sessioned and started reading "The Tao of Physics"...
-
nother bottle of the doublewood -- arguably one of my favorite scotches. Balvenie just doesnt make a bad blend. A fab birthday gift from my ...
-
"The International Space Station will have ultra-sensitive clocks on board, and it is a good place to test the theory," said Dr. A...
-
Finally went out and picked up a Nintendo Wii. My god the thing is fun. Ridiculously, ludicrously fun. Hiyat and I had to tear ourselves...
-
This is from a 1932 episode of The Little Rascals . Man, I've had jobs like that. http://www.boingboing.net/2007/10/23/perpetually...
-
OK, if you have to go, this is the way to do it. Just like Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. I'm serious. http://www.eter...