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British Scientists Reverse Casimir Effect
An anonymous reader writes "The Telegraph reports that Scientists at the University of St. Andrews have developed a technique to cause the Casimir effect to repel instead of attract. This discovery could lead to near frictionless machines or in theory even levitation."
Gasp, that means we will have to repel one of the laws of seance.
This could be put to immediate use in the USA, where much bad legislation needs to be repealed and they need to attract fewer blockheads to a career in politics.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
I'm not a big fan of knitwear at the best of times.
At the bottom of the
Depends how you look at it - pessimists will see the lower atom being depressed ;)
So was it only me that heard Sir Alec Guinness read that line out?
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What is this? a spelling contest or a discussion about a new scientific discovery?
/. is populated purely by obsessive pedants with nothing better to do.
Sheesh. Anybody would think
oh..
"dry glue" effect that enables a gecko to walk across a ceiling.
"Spider-pig, Spider-pig,
Does whatever a Spider-pig does."
-- Boycott Shell
I assume it involves a cat with a piece of buttered toast strapped to its back...
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
No, the OP was right. They're repealing attraction. Don't know why they took so long, Slashdotters repealed attraction years ago.
I hate printers.
I hereby theorize that cramming peanuts into your arsehole will cause levitation.
There, now that I've officially theorized this, I can say, "In theory, cramming peanuts into your arsehole will cause levitation." and it's perfectly true.
Well, it appears it's in the process of trying to revoke the law of gravity
which is totally what she said
FTA: "The force is due to neither electrical charge or gravity, for example, but the fluctuations in all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening empty space between the objects and is one reason atoms stick together, also explaining a "dry glue" effect that enables a gecko to walk across a ceiling." ... and now that scientists have figured out how to reverse the Casimir effect, this will soon enable geckos to walk on the floor.
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That would repel from the floor, but not from another cat with another slice of buttered toast strapped to its back (which is what this can potentially do).
From what I remember of the buttered toast cat, doesn't it end up spinning just above the floor as the cat tries to land feet-first and the toast tries to land butter-side down? If so then why is no-one wrapping these cats in wire, putting them between magnets and throwing them off surfaces en-mass to generate electricity while they spin?
"What happens if all the molecules in your body suddenly repels eachother?"
Okay, that's a good safety tip. Don't cross the streams!
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I assure you, Ladies and Gentlemen of the audience, this gigantic crate is levitating! Between it and the stage are entire nanometers of magic.
- The Amazina Llama
It's all well and good until you have to take the cat down for maintenance. Have you ever seen a cat that's been wrapped in wire, strapped to a piece of buttered toast, and spun for 3 days? Let's just say it's not happy.
Actually, the cat will freeze in midair suspended on its side, because in that case, the direction of spin that requires the least work to get the cat/toast to the correct position are in opposite directions with an equal magnitude. So, sadly, it will hit static equilibrium, so you'll just have a crazy floating cat, not a crazy floating power-generating cat.
Liberty you never use is liberty you lose.
>>> the whole world is not American you know
That depends on who is defining "world".