thermodynamics – 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 Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum? https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-thermodynamics-go-quantum-20240912/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-thermodynamics-go-quantum-20240912/#respond Thu, 12 Sep 2024 13:43:17 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140647 The post Can Thermodynamics Go Quantum? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> The principles of thermodynamics are cornerstones of our understanding of physics. But they were discovered in the era of steam-driven technology, long before anyone dreamed of quantum mechanics. In this episode, the theoretical physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern talks to host Steven Strogatz about how physicists today are reinterpreting concepts such as work, energy and information for a quantum...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-thermodynamics-go-quantum-20240912/feed/ 0 Computer Scientists Prove That Heat Destroys Quantum Entanglement https://www.quantamagazine.org/computer-scientists-prove-that-heat-destroys-entanglement-20240828/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/computer-scientists-prove-that-heat-destroys-entanglement-20240828/#respond Wed, 28 Aug 2024 14:09:05 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=140110 The post Computer Scientists Prove That Heat Destroys Quantum Entanglement first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Nearly a century ago, the physicist Erwin Schrödinger called attention to a quirk of the quantum world that has fascinated and vexed researchers ever since. When quantum particles such as atoms interact, they shed their individual identities in favor of a collective state that’s greater, and weirder, than the sum of its parts. This phenomenon is called entanglement. Researchers have a firm...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/computer-scientists-prove-that-heat-destroys-entanglement-20240828/feed/ 0 What Is the Nature of Time? https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-nature-of-time-20240229/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-nature-of-time-20240229/#respond Thu, 29 Feb 2024 14:00:20 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=135842 The post What Is the Nature of Time? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> Time seems linear to us: We remember the past, experience the present and predict the future, moving consecutively from one moment to the next. But why is it that way, and could time ultimately be a kind of illusion? In this episode, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek speaks with host Steven Strogatz about the many “arrows” of time and why most of them seem irreversible...

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]]> https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-the-nature-of-time-20240229/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 Physicists Use Quantum Mechanics to Pull Energy out of Nothing https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-use-quantum-mechanics-to-pull-energy-out-of-nothing-20230222/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-use-quantum-mechanics-to-pull-energy-out-of-nothing-20230222/#respond Wed, 22 Feb 2023 14:57:22 +0000 https://www.quantamagazine.org/?p=123247 The post Physicists Use Quantum Mechanics to Pull Energy out of Nothing first appeared on Quanta Magazine

]]> For their latest magic trick, physicists have done the quantum equivalent of conjuring energy out of thin air. It’s a feat that seems to fly in the face of physical law and common sense. “You can’t extract energy directly from the vacuum because there’s nothing there to give,” said William Unruh, a theoretical physicist at the University of British Columbia, describing the standard way of thinking.

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