is it possible to......

[ducatilover]

my mum has some tiger-lillies. should we talk about her award wining global artichoke?

[myvice]

So we have discovered that there is no nothing...
And how cold is this lack of nothing that we have?

[Ixion]

We have also demonstrated the existence of globe artichokes - is that not something?

[APPLE]

i was just wondering, is it possible to bring an object or just a single atomic particle to absolute zero? [-273.149c if my 5th form memory serves me right] and if so wont the object or atomic particle be completely stationary? or motionless? [i got bored on the trip to wellington to see the surgeon yesterday] so if anyone here could explain it to me....

and i really want to learn about anti-matter, i'm assuming the only way to store anti-matter would be in an electro-magnetic feild...otherwise it will be in contact with matter and umm yeah we would cease to exist depending on the amount of anti matter ofcourse

Dat shit is 2 heavy 4 me man?

[steved]

Nothing is impossible.

Often wonder why the quest for absolute zero, and what they hope to achieve.
Where they just sitting around till someone said “Hey, lets freeze the fuck out of something” and it grew from there?
Powered on by the dream to have the biggest ice-cream headache ever?
I like the unified field theory tho, so I’m no better.

Also, from the glory that is wikipedia;

"At very low temperatures in the vicinity of absolute zero, matter exhibits many unusual properties including superconductivity, superfluidity, and Bose-Einstein condensation. In order to study such phenomena, scientists have worked to obtain ever lower temperatures."

Superconductivity is of obvious commercial interest.

IMO, true science doesn't have a specific goal. Scientists write 'dream goals' in grants to get the money but usually it's about just trying to discover something new. Who would have thought a highly coherent stream of mono-chromatic photons would be so damn useful (lasers)?

[Wolf]

Also, from the glory that is wikipedia;

"At very low temperatures in the vicinity of absolute zero, matter exhibits many unusual properties including superconductivity, superfluidity, and Bose-Einstein condensation. In order to study such phenomena, scientists have worked to obtain ever lower temperatures."

Superconductivity is of obvious commercial interest.

In order to be of any real commercial use, superconductivity needs to occur at "room temperature" or thereabouts. A lot of work is being done on researching superconductivity at room temperature.

[myvice]

We have also demonstrated the existence of globe artichokes - is that not something?

Yes that is indeed something, as it is not nothing.
Would a super conductor work at absolute zero?
If it is at true absolute zero then there should be no electron movement.
So pure science is for the quest of knowledge, the same as pure art?
Is the quest for absolute zero just a marking ploy by a certain vodka company?

[bigbadwolf]

FYI, the coldest temperature ever recorded is 450 picoKelvin, which is 0.000000000045 degrees above absolute zero. At temperatures such as this, a group of atoms behave as one superatom, and magnetic fields can be used to separate the atoms and cool them further (this is the Bose-Einstein concentrate some people have mentioned). This experiment was achieved by a team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the States. The results were published in Science magazine on September 12, 2003. They used something called a "gravito-magnetic" trap, which somehow holds atoms more lightly than a pure magnetic field, and in theory, even lower temperatures should be possible using the same technique. Most of this stuff is so far over my head that it could shit on me from up there and it would be 3 weeks before my hair suddenly feels all sticky...

[ducatilover]

So we have discovered that there is no nothing...
And how cold is this lack of nothing that we have?

fucken cold cos i have the fire going

[Pixie]

The cool thing about quantum physics is that it postulates that entire universes can just pop into existence from nowhere. Or , strictly, if I remember correctly, out of 6 (or 20 ?) dimensional space. The REALLY cool thing is that, the former being so, by corollary, existing universes (like ours) can pop OUT of existence just like *that*. I find this a very reassuring concept.

11 space.
The 4 dimensions we are familiar with plus 7 more dimensions that are folded in on themselves on a sub atomic scale.

Physicists are trying to find out what happened to all the anti-matter,since the most functional models of the universe predict that an equal amount of anti-matter and matter was created at the beginning.

all energy production from nuclear reactions (fusion or fission) is due to some of the mass of the nucleus being converted to photons (E=MC2)

String theory predicts that all particles are formed by vibrating "strings",the nature of the vibration determining the type of particle.At the moment astrophysicists are looking for super strings millions of lightyears long,by the gravity lens effect they will have on the view of stars as seen from the earth,when the string passes in front of the star.

Brane theory is a development of string theory (or vice versa) which describes our universe as a membrane of 4 dimensions in 11 dimensional space (or multiverse).A super string is thought to be created when two membranes (universes) accidentally intersect like one sheet of paper passing through another.

[steved]

In order to be of any real commercial use, superconductivity needs to occur at "room temperature" or thereabouts. A lot of work is being done on researching superconductivity at room temperature.

Yeah, although when superconductors broke the liquid nitrogen barrier (77 K), they began to have some limited appeal in the commerical world. especially motors. Still, they are selling on 'cool' factor a bit. Put the world nano- in there and double the price. You are right though that if they ever manage to produce a ductile wire that exhibits superconductivity at temperatures greater than 298 K, the material will have a profound affect on the world.

[steved]

just be and not be at the same time as nothing exists as i have already theorised by the fact of its non existance.

Ever heard of Schrodinger's Cat? I think you'll like the concepts around this idea. Also, try some John Gribbin books. Pretty well written pop-science.

[Pixie]

Ever heard of Schrodinger's Cat? I think you'll like the concepts around this idea. Also, try some John Gribbin books. Pretty well written pop-science.

I used to feed Schrodinger's cat when he was on holiday.
Then someone shot it and I think it ended up in a combination chow mein

[k14]

I used to feed Schrodinger's cat when he was on holiday.
Then someone shot it and I think it ended up in a combination chow mein

Yeah wondered what ever happend to that cat... You seen maxwells demon lately? Seems to have dissapeared into thin air.

[Wolf]

I used to feed Schrodinger's cat when he was on holiday.
Then someone shot it and I think it ended up in a combination chow mein

Good-o, that's at least more humane than what bloody Schrodinger used to do to the poor moggy!

Fuckin' radioactive isotopes indeed!