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Yoctonewton Detector Smashes Force Sensing Record
KentuckyFC writes "A team of physicists has measured the smallest force ever recorded, at 174 yoctonewtons (yocto=10^-24), beating the previous best by three orders of magnitude. Their measurement device consists of a few dozen beryllium ions trapped in magnetic and electric fields using a device called a Penning trap. These ions vibrate at between a few mega and kilohertz, frequencies that can be accurately measured by bouncing laser light off the ions and measuring any Doppler shift they cause. Being charged, the ions are highly susceptible to the tiny forces associated with stray magnetic and electric fields, which change the frequency at which the ions vibrate. Hence the super-sensitive measurements. They team says that straightforward modifications should allow them to measure single yoctonewtons in the near future. This sudden leap in sensitivity could cause a problem for the system of SI prefixes, which don't yet come any smaller than yocto."
G R Double-E N Leaves
G R Double-E N Leaves
It's so easy! Happy-go-lucky!
We are the world! We did it!
Hyuu! Hyuu! Hyuu! Hyuu! Osu! Osu! Osu! Osu! (Ai!)
Yocto! Yocto!
Daigaku gohgaku
Yocto! Yocto!
Shachoh shuunin
Happa ichimai areba ii. Ikite iru kara lucky da!
Yocto! Yocto!
Tohsen kakujitsu
Yocto! Yocto!
Nihon daihyoh
Yannaru kurai kenkoh da.
Everybody say yocto!
This is no big deal.
A Big Fucking Deal
Your comming up with miniscule amounts of movement, and your worrying about finding the proper prefix? Who hasn't hearsd of Scientific Notation?
This sudden leap in sensitivity could cause a problem for the system of SI prefixes which don't yet come any smaller than yocto."
Simple. Call them deciyoctos, centiyoctos, miliyoctos, microyoctos, etc. The problem will be solved forever. It's not like we will find anything smaller.
I, hereby, propose the diminewtons.
They should've started from the tiniest entity, like we CSs did with the bits.
They won't hear us complain of not having a name for portions of a yotabit.
At that small of values the uncertianty principle probably plays a big role in error. I wonder if they considered that.
Doctors do Massage in Longview WA now, who knew?
zepto
yocto
Seems like the logical next steps would be prefixes starting with x, then w, etc. So:
xocto
wupto
vecto
etc.
I doubt that the measurement of forces will go that many more orders of magnitude beyond where they're already measuring things.
âoeAny society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.
The doppler effect to me is a very specific phenomenon whereby there is a shift in perceived wavelength when there is relative motion between a source emitting waves and the observer. The article talks about lattice vibrations being the source of the shift (these vibrations are referred to as "phonons" by physicists), which has nothing to do with relative motion.
There is an accepted mathematical (and computer) notation for it. Please use that - there is no need to resort to the equivalent of emoticons.
As an aside, why does every possible potential fraction of a unit need it's own prefix? Unless it is widely used to warrant a prefix, using a numeric power is just fine. Somehow I doubt these units will be common enough for anyone to even remember. SI is really going overboard on this, taking an idea to absurdity.
Haven't had time to read the article but it would amazing if force measurements at these levels could be conducted between well characterized masses to validate general relativity at low mass short distance scales.
...And yet still not sensitive enough to measure how fast I jumped when my niece recently asked me if I wanted a Miley Cyrus ticket too.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
...to detect the attractive force a Linux nerd radiates out to women.
I formally propose the fapto as the prefix for the next smallest increment. Acceptance of the faptometer won't fulfill me as a person, but it should make me happy for a couple of minutes.
into a bunch of humorous suggestions for the name of units smaller than yocto
allow me to start the noble proceedings:
mosquito-newtons
eensyteensy-newtowns
feelingsofinadequacy-newtons
napoleoncomplex-newtowns
wheredididropit-newtons
2009GNP-newtons
loco-newtons
gonzo-newtons
artdeco-newtons
your turn
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
This sudden leap in sensitivity could cause a problem for the system of SI prefixes which don't yet come any smaller than yocto.
I say that the SI authority open the floor for commercial advertisers to sponsor smaller prefixes.
Future announcements might include: "Physicists break force measurement record with device sensitive to 10 Applenewtons."
Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
"I sense a disturbance in the forc .. another distur ... another dist... anothe ... MAKE IT STOP!"
In laymans terms, what does this actually mean?
From how many hundreds of miles away can we detect a sparrow fart? Or more slashdot related, how many miles away can someone detect my unencrypted wireless AP?
Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
Dr Brown didn't know what a Gigawatt was when Marty got to 1955!
IMarv
Trusting software vendors is no smarter than trus
Not one Obi-wan Kenobi quote in the whole thread yet. None of you are geeks. You're just nerds. NERDS!
the emoticonewton
or perhaps the :)newton, 8-(newton, :-Pnewton, ;\newton, etc
this is a great idea you've had! pat yourself on the back
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Logically, 10^-27 would be called xennea
The recurrence is:
zepta (Z + hepta=7)
yocto (Y + okto=8)
xennea(X + ennea=9)
in proper slashdot parlance, you must:
1. translate yoctonewtons into libraries of congress units
2. contemplate a beowulf cluster of them
3. explain their significance with a car analogy
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Just enough to hold the mandatory 30 second anti-piracy advertisement, followed by the RIAA approved 5 second clip of the song, followed by a 30 second commercial outro.
All DRM protected and only usable with "trusted" hardware (digitally encrypted at receiver and then decrypted by the new mandatory $500 digital speaker, or $200 earbuds) to keep those evil pirates from infringing.
Why are we using non-mathematical language to describe numbers? Just use powers of ten, etc. and be done with it! I like base 2 better, though. Base 10 is a flight-of-fancy. ;)
"zeppo", duh!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
&, is even able to create new 'things' at will. additional 'features' include the ability to re-arrange anything/everything in the wink of an eye. what a 'device', no?
manufactured 'weather' still sucking badly. seismic activity remains 'normal' (usgs).
never a better time to consult with/trust in your creators, who understand/sense us on a sub-atomic level, & by every other conceivable measure. you become a member of the creators' wwwildly popular planet/population rescue initiative/mandate simply by wanting to. see you there?
Still can't detect individual midi-chlorians, can it?
Could something like this be useful for experiments like the CDMS, which are searching for non-baryonic particles?
I propose fig as the new SI prefix for 10^-27.
...Then again, maybe I'm just hungry.
I could help these guys out with the prefix issue. But after the whole kibi/mebi/gibbi nonsense, I'm not feeling inclined to. They'll have to suffer with what they've got.
Sell the names for branding purposes and with this finance several years of studying even weaker forces
microsoftnewton
cocacolanewton
GEnewton
I have to wonder what exactly they expect to measure with such a device. The premise of the Penning trap device is to use a static magnetic field (magnets) and an electric field (electric circuits) to cap the ends of the device to contain the super cooled, in this case beryllium ions. In order to "measure" external electric fields one has to let in external electromagnetic radiation, which will not come without having some overall effects on the containment vessel and circuitry as well. With external electromagnetic radiation power propagating at r^2 the vessel will get more of a dose than the beryllium ions and the electric field will have some level of modulation which will in turn make the ions vibrate in the axial direction based on the reactance of the containment circuitry, not the primary waveform desired to be measured. Yes, you will measure vibrations at the quantum level, but are you really measuring what you think you are? The device is likely so sensitive that due to the uncertainty principal it may defy us the ability to prove what is actually being measured.
Let me guess how this experiment started...
Scientist 1: "Let's see who can punch the softest. You go first!"
Scientist 2: "I managed to punch with 6 Yoctonewtons! Beat that!"
Scientist 2: "OW!"
Scientist 1: "You win."
E pluribus unum
Just prefix with a second set of units - milliyoctonewton,etc.
Both the summary and the article express how much smaller something is, without saying "n times smaller." If you never believed in miracles, here is incontrovertible proof!
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Did you know that if you horozontal-mirror that SI chart it looks strangely like an ASCII Goatse?
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
At least it will be less of a mess than Linux audio.
fignewtons
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The obvious next steps below Zepto would be Grouchto, Harpto, and Chicto. If they'd followed the logical course they'd be set for another two orders of magnitude, instead of having to come up with a new name in the middle of a recession. Do they think SI prefixes grow on trees or something?
As many of us know there is a movement to make "hella-" the SI unit for 10^27.
Following convention, 10^-27 should therefore be "hello-"
Which works perfectly, since that makes 10^-27 kitties...
-- the opinions stated above aren't those of my employer. in fact, they're probably not even my own. you know what, ju
femto (10^-15) = Danish femtem (15),
atto (10^-18) = Danish atten (18),
zepto (1000^-7) = French sept (7) but with a z,
yocto (1000^-8) = the Greek okto (8) with a y I guess to differentiate from 8,
...then it stands to reason the next prefix (1000^-9) will come from some language's 9, preferably one with a t in it. These could be:
French: neuf
Greek: ennea
Latin: novem
Albanian: nente
Russian: devyat
Many Slavic languages: devet
My money's on devto.
Towards the Singularity.
Should surely be itti and bitti.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
The next size down should use the prefix "Zeppo".
possibly imagine!! it is the tiniest of fathomable gentle nudges!
Just wait til they try to vote on new standardized names.
All laughing at us with the kibi and mebibytes stuff... it ain't over.
BY FAAAAARRRRRR
MUAHAHAAH!!!
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
Every scale I’ve ever seen had a “zero”.
You can now proceed to discuss precision, accuracy, and the difference between the two...
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
N/t
Responsibility is an addiction
Virtue is a temptation
Community is a cartel
If you look carefully, you'll see they've built in an escape mechanism. zepto, yocto? Sounds like seven and eight to me. Novto, decto would seem sensible continuations. Likewise (novta, decta) on the other end of the prefix spectrum.
Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
The value of "G" itself would be much more finely measurable.
(1) The notation ``bEa'' is shorthand for ``b times 10^a''. Therefore, ``10E-24'' means ``10 times 10^(-24)'' = 10^(-23), which isn't 10^(-24).
(2) Prefixes may or may not have much in common with emoticons, but they are worth creating. They are very handy for communication, both oral and written. Other posters have made this point, so I won't say any more about it.
(By the way, should ``dangnabbit'' have one ``b'' or two? I can't find any trustworthy resources on this.)
my wife, who is a physicist, has for years been calling my schlong "yocto" :( :( :(
asdf
The force is stro- no wait.
Once you run out of prefixes, just start using two. Example: milliyoctonewtons.