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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."
and unleash them on the flux capacitor !!! we are getting into quantum artifact business.
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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.
I suspect that they mean some kind of artifact that behaves like an atom for certain useful purposes, but without explaining what that artifact is and what makes it behave like an atom they're not actually explaining anything.
Next time you think about putting your new quantum motherboard in your mouth think again.
Uh, two points:
1. There already exists an issue with the amount of toxic chemicals in most computers today.
http://maine.gov/dep/rwm/recycle/computerrecy.htm
"A typical processor and monitor contain five to eight pounds of lead and heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury and arsenic."
2. When you are dealing with quantum levels a gram of any element has a lot of area to work in and they are suspending the toxic bit with a field of silicon.
"Imagine a tiny arsenic atom embedded in a tiny strip of silicon atoms..."
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
Sadly, these flat atoms will never get the attention that more endowed atoms get on a regular basis.
Back in my day, the President of the United States declared that arsenic counted as a vegetable in our school lunches, and although we didn't much like the taste, we all did our part to defeat the commies and make the world free. And this is the thanks the next generation has for us -- gettin' all uppity about using it in computers. Sheesh!
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
Is there a big variety I'm unaware of?
Can someone on slashdot please make sense of the article. It claims ;-)
1. That quantum computing needs vastly fewer bits to represent data. I thought it dealt with multiple possibilities simultaneously, but that the final reality just needed small number of bits. (Ideal for encryption cracking. Crap for storing a database)
2. That a synthetic atom was created. OK. I used to be a chemist. A new non-peridic table atom is heresy to me. But that extraordinary claim seemed to be nothing more than an odd electrical state, acting as if an unknown atom was present.
3. A molecule was created. Covalent bonds and the like. Except that it seemed to be an arsenic atom buried in a matrix. Not a separate molecule at all.
4. That faster than light communication is possible. I thought that collapsing entanglement does appear to happen faster than light, but that no information transfer happens. Mind you, that's my memory of my take on a New Scientist comment some time back. My brain has its share of garbage. Compost help ideas grow.
I suspect there is great science here being reported as little more than magic.
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.
Delft's Rogge, the first of the discoverers stated, "Our experiment made us realize that industrial electronic devices have now reached the level where we can study and manipulate the state of a single atom. This is the ultimate limit, you cannot get smaller than that."
I always thought of Creationism as the Raving Right's version of the Loony Left's Anthropogenic Global Warming-brightmal
There is nothing wrong with using toxic substances. The problem is how you process it, and recycle or dispose of it. I'm sure the car you drive to work has a serious amount of Toxins. We only need to be sure that we allow a proper reclaim process.
A good example is the lead acid battery in your car. You get charged $5 for every new battery that you buy if you don't recycle the old one.
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
am tired of these flat molecules. I want the largest, firmest and the most ample molecules that I can get my hands on...
Wait... was thinking of something else. Never mind.
and they would be actually be inside the chips. I can't see how they would pose a danger to anyone.
Puts away salsa
What?
>There is nothing wrong with using toxic substances...
Yep, it's even in the tapwater you drink, use to cook and wash and brush your teeth.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/arsenic.cfm
from the breakthroughs-by-mistake dept.
There's a word for that, just on the tip of my mind, meaning happy accident... ah yes: schadenfreude.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
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.
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.
All I was able to grasp was
Imagine ...
Reading everything after caused my brain to spin into the guard rail.
No sig for you!!
Half NaCl, half KCl, IIRC.
Too much potassium can be bad for you though, so you shouldn't dump a lot of it on your fries either.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
and those subjects you mentioned are fictional devices from a bad 1980s movie and therefore, Offtopic.
wow.
you are sure you are in the right website ? you surely dont fit well with the demographic here. i would rather chop my own balls than call Back to the Future a bad movie in slashdot.
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...Keiraknightlium
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
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)
I use 2 Eizo CRTs, 21" F930. Despite their age, they're great. LCDs only really look nice in one resolution, for everything else it's a blurfest. If one uses a lot of different resolutions and do graphics work, CRT is the way to go. And in general I love the fact that i can run a game at 160Hz refresh rate and 0.1ms response time on ALL colors. LCD still has a lot of catching up to do imo, but for normal one-resolution office work, lcd is the way to go. For my main setup I use 2x1600*1200 @100Hz, and for games demos from 800*600 to 1280*1024, my pc is a few years old :-). Were I to buy new LCDs with comparative resolutions, I'd have to fork out a shitload of cash, and demos and games would in fact look worse. Maybe when OLED goes mainstream or LCD is improved I'll change, but not now, not yet.
Rest in peace Malin "looxn" Kristiansen. We miss you...