Slashdot Mirror
Discovery of a "Flat" Atom Hailed as Quantum Computing Breakthrough
msw writes to tell us that nanoelectronics researchers have discovered a new molecule that could act as a state-manipulable atom due to its unique shape and properties. "Imagine a tiny arsenic atom embedded in a tiny strip of silicon atoms. An electric current is applied. Something strange arises on the surface -- an exotic molecule. On one end is the spherical submerged arsenic atom; on the other end is an 'artificial' flat atom, seemingly 2D, created as an artifact. The pair form an exotic molecule, which has a shared electron, which can be manipulated to be at either end, or in an intermediate quantum state."
Don't you mean indeterminate quantum state? The electron can't be in an intermediate state since there are only two possible states.
Only his tendency toward a dazed stupor prevented him from screaming aloud.
Wil McCarthy insists that his Wellstone... an artificial state of matter (or something of that nature) involving a grid of pseudo-atoms... isn't entirely science fiction.
The Wellstone
The Collapsium
Lost in Transition
To Crush the Moon
Warning: I haven't been able to bring myself to read the final book in this series, the previous books have set it up as a serious downer and I've already got enough stress in my life as it is.
"typical monitor" when this was written was a CRT. I'd hardly call a CRT a "typical" purchase for anyone anymore. I got rid of my last one four years ago, and I'm not even sure I know anyone who still has one. Hell, most non-gamers I know don't even own a desktop PC. I'm not saying there aren't still hazardous materials in today's PC, I'm just saying its a hell of a lot less than "five to eight pounds."
With RoHS firmly in place, there is no lead in the solder of almost any circuit board built post 2006.
Ever drive through Missouri? If so, ever smell almonds? Well, afaik there are no almond trees in Misouri. That's pesticide you smell - arsenic.
TFA and TFS are referring to incredibly tiny amounts of arsenic, not large quantities, and they would be actually be inside the chips. I can't see how they would pose a danger to anyone.
Um, your comment was pretty ignorant but it was on topic, have the mods been smoking arsenic?
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
It means that chemically, there is an "atom" there, but that no one knows what is actually in the nucleus, or trapping the electron at all. Something is, but no one knows what is in there. Likely, nothing... it's the magnetic field making the electron act like there's an atom there.
Still, this is way cool... imaginary matter!
WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
Imagine that if you want, but it isn't how it works.
A quantum bit can actually be in many different states; any weighted superposition of the 0 state and the 1 state, in fact. But you can't look at it and say "ah, right now it's in an indeterminate state"; when you read it, it collapses to either the 0 state or the 1 state. Its state prior to observation only determines the odds that you'll see the 0 state vs. the 1 state when you read it; you can only read it as being in one or the other.
So since I work in the office support industry I can attest to seeing way more CRTs than LCDs in use by the cubicle users. I has been getting much better but they're still out there and in use, and for sale at best buy and pc connection type stores. CDW sells them online and in catalog. They have a 15" viewsonic for 129.00 in stock even.
The point I was making was that the hardware out there has had toxic chemicals inside for quite a while and probably in greater quantities than we can expect from quantum manipulation tech in the future.
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
That's not how it works. You can't measure an indeterminate state. I'm not even sure what you mean by "element."
If I've got some sets of pair entangled particles and I give you one half of each pair, then I manipulate my set and you measure your set, if we compare notes we'll find out that our measurements agree with each other (actually, in most cases they disagree perfectly, but that's just a detail).
The catch is that you can only observe the effect after we get together and compare notes. You can only compare notes by transmitting messages... at or slower than the speed of light.
From another angle, I can't give you an entangled particle, manipulate its partner into a state of my choosing, then expect your particle to indicate that state. It doesn't work that way.
I thought it was cyanide that smells like almonds. Does arsenic even have a smell?
You are correct. Cyanide smells like Almonds. Arsenic, when heated, smells like Garlic. At least, according to wikipedia...
WTB [sig], PST!!!
Ignorant like he who ignores that cyanide is the poison with the almond flavor and that arsenic is a metalloid element of the Periodic Table? That must be some really ignorant person.
Positronium acts chemically exactly like Hydrogen, because chemistry is based on the electron shell, not the actual atom inside (the different elements are all distinguished by how many electrons they have in orbit, as well how much or little they want to keep electrons.)
The different elements are all distinguished by the number of PROTONS in the nucleus of an atom. This is one of the most basic concepts in chemistry, and is the basis for the periodic table.
Additionally, the differences between hydrogen and deuterium (hydrogen with an extra neutron) can have significant effects on their reactivity. For example, if you drank nothing but D2O instead of H2O, you would die because of their differing physical properties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water
"Mammals such as rats given heavy water to drink die after a week, at a time when their body water approaches about 50% deuteration."
A 50% body water weight of deuterium is hardly a significant LD50.
The number of PROTONS in a substance most greatly effects the number of ELECTRONS that the substance will have. Chemically, the ELECTRONS are the acting agents... Nuclear physics deals with properties of atoms at the nucleus. Chemistry only deals with the number of electrons (or more rather, the specific attractions of electrons, thus implying a certain charge.)
Since you pointed me to Wikipedia, I'll point you to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positronium
"The orbit of the two particles and the set of energy levels is similar to that of the hydrogen atom (electron and proton). However, because of the reduced mass, the frequencies associated with the spectral lines are less than half of those of the corresponding hydrogen lines."
and "The ground state of positronium, like that of hydrogen, has two possible configurations depending on the relative orientations of the spins of the electron and the positron."
WARNING! This girl exceeds the MAXIMUM SAFE standards established by the FDA for BRATTINESS
Let's see... We have one arsenic atom per bit. Let's assume a one (decimal) megabit quantum storage unit. That means one million arsenic atoms.
Arsenic has a nuclear mass of about 74.92159 u with one u being about 1.660538782 * 10^(27) kg.
Google tells us that 74921590 u = 1.24410212 * 10^(-10) micrograms (0.000000000124410212 ug). Note that you already eat several ug of arsenic a day, so eating your megabit quantum storage chip is unlikely to give you arsenic poisoning. That is not what you should worry about at that moment.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)