A quantum computer works in a totally different way from a classical computer. Quantum bits or 'qubits' can exist in a superposition state of both zero and one simultaneously. This means that a set of two qubits can be in a superposition of four states, which therefore require four numbers to uniquely identify the state. So the amount of information stored in N qubits is two to the power of N classical bits.
An atom is mostly empty space, but empty space is mostly not empty. The reason it looks empty is because electrons and photons don't interact with the stuff that is there, quark and gluon field fluctuations. It actually takes energy to clear out space and make a true 'empty' vacuum. This seems incredibly counter-intuitive but we can make an analogy to a permanent magnet. When at low energies, like at room temperature, there is a magnetic field around the magnet due to the alignment of all the magnetic moments of the atoms. But if you add some energy to it by heating it, the particles gain thermal energy, which above the Curie temperature makes their magnetic moments randomly oriented and hence destroying the magnetic field. So in this case energy is needed to clear out the field, just as in the quantum vacuum.
*Watch with headphones on! Is 45 minutes really the longest anyone can stay in a perfectly silent, pitch-black room? Many stories have circulated claiming the longest anyone has stayed in an ultra-quiet anechoic chamber is 45 minutes, the reason being any longer would drive you insane. To me this sounded like unsubstantiated rubbish, like the claim the Great Wall is the only manmade structure visible from space. So I put my own psyche on the line, subjecting myself to over an hour of the most intense quiet on Earth. No, this was not THE quietest room on Earth (-9dB) but it is one of the quietest, and the truth is once you put a person inside, they are by far the loudest thing in there so the sound rating of the room is irrelevant.
Some clarifications:
- The lengthening of wavelengths is not strictly due to stretching by the expanding universe but by the way the photons were emitted and absorbed in different frames of reference. - The effects of gravitational waves have been observed in the decaying orbital periods of some binary star systems, however detectors built to measure gravitational waves stretching and squeezing matter on Earth have not as yet detected them. - In the video I sometimes use the term Big Bang to refer to the beginning of time as we know it. The Big Bang actually refers to the whole process from the formation of our universe, through inflation, to the expanding mass of plasma in the early universe (not just the first instant). - Quantum gravity is by no means established by this observation but it is suggestive that General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics are working together here. Huge thanks to A/Prof Emeritus Rod Cross, Helen Georgiou for filming, Alex Yeung, and Chris Stewart, the University of Sydney Mechanical Engineering shop, Duncan and co. Ralph and the School of Physics. These are all super cool!!!!!!! Micro/Nanotechnology is the science of extreme miniaturization, all the way down to the molecular and atomic scales. This field has the potential to drastically improve electronics, medicine, communications, manufacturing, and beyond. Because micro/nano structures are too small to see with the naked eye, there is a dire need for visualization resources, such as video and animations, to visualize and understand this revolutionary field. Part - 1 |
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