crystals – Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org Illuminating science Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:10:47 -0400 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2 A Quantum Trick Implied Eternal Stability. Now the Idea May Be Falling Apart. https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-quantum-trick-implied-eternal-stability-now-its-falling-apart-20240226/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-quantum-trick-implied-eternal-stability-now-its-falling-apart-20240226/#respond Mon, 26 Feb 2024 15:35:43 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=135717 The post A Quantum Trick Implied Eternal Stability. Now the Idea May Be Falling Apart. first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> It is a truth of both physics and everyday experience that things fall apart. Ice melts. Buildings crumble. Any object, if you wait long enough, gets mixed up with itself and its surroundings beyond recognition. But beginning in 2005, a series of breakthroughs made this death march seem optional. In just the right quantum setting, any arrangement of electrons or atoms would stay put for all...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-quantum-trick-implied-eternal-stability-now-its-falling-apart-20240226/feed/ 0 Is Perpetual Motion Possible at the Quantum Level? https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-perpetual-motion-possible-at-the-quantum-level-20230503/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-perpetual-motion-possible-at-the-quantum-level-20230503/#respond Wed, 03 May 2023 19:03:10 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=125513 The post Is Perpetual Motion Possible at the Quantum Level? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Perpetual motion machines are impossible, at least in our everyday world. But down at the level of quantum mechanics, the laws of thermodynamics don’t always apply in quite the same way. In 2021, after years of effort, physicists successfully demonstrated the reality of a “time crystal,” a new state of matter that is both stable and ever-changing without any input of energy. In this episode...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/is-perpetual-motion-possible-at-the-quantum-level-20230503/feed/ 0 Room-Temperature Superconductor Discovery Meets With Resistance https://www.quantamagazine.org/room-temperature-superconductor-discovery-meets-with-resistance-20230308/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/room-temperature-superconductor-discovery-meets-with-resistance-20230308/#respond Wed, 08 Mar 2023 16:00:37 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=123663 Nature reports the discovery of a superconductor that operates at room temperatures and near-room pressures. The claim has divided the research community.

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]]> Editor’s note, September 28, 2023: Eight of the paper’s 11 co-authors have asked Nature to retract the superconductivity paper, citing alleged data manipulation. The request, which was first reported in the Wall Street Journal, follows revelations that the paper’s plot of electrical resistivity does not match the description in the paper. Editor’s note, November 7, 2023: Nature has retracted the...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/room-temperature-superconductor-discovery-meets-with-resistance-20230308/feed/ 0 Mathematicians Complete Quest to Build ‘Spherical Cubes’ https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-complete-quest-to-build-spherical-cubes-20230210/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-complete-quest-to-build-spherical-cubes-20230210/#respond Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:10:34 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=122987 The post Mathematicians Complete Quest to Build ‘Spherical Cubes’ first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> In the fourth century, the Greek mathematician Pappus of Alexandria praised bees for their “geometrical forethought.” The hexagonal structure of their honeycomb seemed like the optimal way to partition two-dimensional space into cells of equal area and minimal perimeter — allowing the insects to cut down on how much wax they needed to produce, and to spend less time and energy building their hive.

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/mathematicians-complete-quest-to-build-spherical-cubes-20230210/feed/ 0 ‘Fullertubes’ Join the Family of Carbon Crystals https://www.quantamagazine.org/fullertubes-join-the-family-of-carbon-crystals-20221220/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/fullertubes-join-the-family-of-carbon-crystals-20221220/#respond Tue, 20 Dec 2022 15:46:40 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=121664 The post ‘Fullertubes’ Join the Family of Carbon Crystals first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Carbon can arrange itself into one of the hardest materials in nature, or into one so soft that children inscribe trails of it on paper. Several decades ago, scientists started wondering: Aside from diamond and graphite, what other crystalline forms might carbon take? In 1985, they had their first answer. A group of chemists discovered little hollow spheres constructed of 60 carbon atoms that they...

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