NS: Seven wonders of the quantum world

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bystander
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NS: Seven wonders of the quantum world

Post by bystander » Wed May 05, 2010 5:59 pm

Seven wonders of the quantum world
New Scientist - 05 May 2010
  • From undead cats to particles popping up out of nowhere, from watched pots not boiling – sometimes – to ghostly influences at a distance, quantum physics delights in demolishing our intuitions about how the world works.

    Michael Brooks tours the quantum effects that are guaranteed to boggle our minds.
  • Wave-Particle Duality: Corpuscles and Buckyballs
    Light is both a particle and a wave – and we're starting to prove that everything else is too.
  • Off the Boil: The Hamlet Effect
    To be decayed or not decayed, that is the analytically unsolvable question.
  • The Casimir Effect: Something for Nothing
    They might not stick around for long, but particles that pop in and out of existence could gum up nano-machines.
  • Love the Quantum Bomb: The Elitzur-Vaidman Bomb-Tester
    You can use quantum trickery to shine light on a light-triggered bomb – and stay safe a guaranteed 25 per cent of the time.
  • Entanglement: Spooky Action at a Distance
    Reality, free will or the speed of light? One's got to give, because quantum mechanics says you can't have them all.
  • The Aharanov-Bohm Effect: The Field that isn't There
    You have to think about where an electromagnetic field isn't, as well as where it is, as far as particles are concerned.
  • Miracle Matter: Superfluids and Supersolids
    Forget radioactive spider bites and exposure to gamma rays, it's quantum theory that gives you superpowers.
  • Paradoxes: Nobody Understands
    Paradoxes are only conflicts between reality and your feelings of what reality ought to be.

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owlice
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Re: NS: Seven wonders of the quantum world

Post by owlice » Wed May 05, 2010 6:08 pm

Thanks for this! My kid has an interest in superfluids; I sent him the link to Miracle Matter.
A closed mouth gathers no foot.

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