It seems perfectly natural to expect that two motorists who depart from the same location and follow the same directions will end up at the same destination. But according to a Johns Hopkins University mathematical physicist, this is not true when the "directions" are provided by a turbulent fluid flow, such as you find in a churning river or stream. Verifying earlier theoretical predictions, Gregory Eyink's computer experiments reveal that, in principle, two identical small beads dropped into the same turbulent flow at precisely the same starting location will end up at different and entirely random destinations.
Read More »Tag Archives: physics
Feed SubscriptionD-Wave sells first commercial quantum computer
(PhysOrg.com) -- Last week, Burnaby, British Columbia-based company D-Wave Systems, Inc., announced that it sold its first commercial quantum computer. Global security company Lockheed Martin, based in Bethesda, Maryland, bought the quantum computer for a rumored $10 million, which includes maintenance and other services for several years.
Read More »Researching niobium gilding in bid for better beams
For thousands of years, craftsmen have applied gilding, a thin layer of gold, to objects to enhance their value. Now, researchers at DOE's Jefferson Lab are using this same idea to enhance materials for accelerator science.
Read More »Making complex fluids look simple
An international research team has successfully developed a widely applicable method for discovering the physical foundations of complex fluids for the first time. Researchers at the University of Vienna and University of Rome have developed a microscopic theory that describes the interactions between the various components of a complex polymer mixture. This approach has now been experimentally proven by physicists from Julich, who conducted neutron scattering experiments in Grenoble
Read More »Fermilab CDF collaboration member adds credence to Higgs discovery rumors
(PhysOrg.com) -- Over the weekend, at a physics conference in France, Fermilab CDF collaboration member, Giovanni Punzi, gave a presentation where he showed some slides that appeared to back up the rumors that cropped up a month ago on the Internet, suggesting the team had found some evidence that might hint at the existence of a previously unknown particle; which would of course refer to the infamous Higgs Boson.
Read More »Nanoscale waveguide for future photonics
The creation of a new quasiparticle called the "hybrid plasmon polariton" may throw open the doors to integrated photonic circuits and optical computing for the 21st century. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have demonstrated the first true nanoscale waveguides for next generation on-chip optical communication systems.
Read More »Physicists describe how to make time-reversed light pulses
(PhysOrg.com) -- By taking advantage of the properties of periodic systems, physicists have described how to efficiently time-reverse ultrashort electromagnetic pulses.
Read More »Shrinking device makes objects appear smaller than they are
(PhysOrg.com) -- By controlling how light bends around an object, researchers have built a shrinking device that makes objects appear smaller than they actually are. Although the original object does not actually shrink, the illusion of the smaller object is convincing enough to confuse viewers since the real size of the object cannot be perceived.
Read More »Holographic dark information energy
Holographic Dark Information Energy gets my vote for the best mix of arcane theoretical concepts expressed in the shortest number of words and just to keep it interesting, its mostly about entropy.
Read More »Sensors pave the way to using energy from the stars
(PhysOrg.com) -- The international ITER project is setting out to store the energy of stars in a reactor. To meet this challenge, scientists must be able to measure the properties of matter in fusion
Read More »Matter-matter entanglement at a distance
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics prepare quantum mechanical entanglement of two remote quantum systems.
Read More »Tesla coils take on Lady Gaga
(PhysOrg.com) -- In an amazing display of lights and sounds, the Open Spark Project and the Tesla Orchestra, formed from researchers at Case Western Reserve University, have taken Tesla coils to a whole new level. Their new Tesla Orchestra uses Tesla coils to covert music into an amazing display of lightning and sound.
Read More »Chameleon magnets: ability to switch magnets ‘on’ or ‘off’ could revolutionize computing
(PhysOrg.com) -- What causes a magnet to be a magnet, and how can we control a magnet's behavior? These are the questions that University at Buffalo researcher Igor Zutic, a theoretical physicist, has been exploring over many years.
Read More »Hot bodies no drag
(PhysOrg.com) -- A Swinburne University professor was part of a team that showed that drag on hot bodies moving through liquid can be radically reduced by up to 85 per cent, potentially doubling their speed.
Read More »Scientist instils new hope of detecting gravitational waves
(PhysOrg.com) -- Direct evidence of the existence of gravitational waves is something that has long eluded researchers, however new research has suggested that adding just one of the proposed detectors in Japan, Australia and India will drastically increase the expected rate of detection.
Read More »