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New Type of Chemical Bond Predicted To Exist In White Dwarfs
ananyo writes "A previously unknown type of powerful chemical bond should be induced by the ferocious magnetic fields of white dwarfs and neutron stars, according to computer simulations. If the effect can be harnessed in the lab, 'magnetized matter' could be exploited for quantum computing. Chemists identify two classes of strong molecular bonds: ionic bonds, in which electrons from one atom hop over to another, and covalent bonds, in which electrons are shared between atoms. But researchers at the University of Oslo accidentally discovered a third bonding mechanism when they simulated how atoms should behave under magnetic fields of about 105 tesla — 10,000 times the biggest fields that can be generated on Earth (abstract)."
Should be 10 to the 5 Tesla, or 10^5, or 10**5 if you're a Fortran guy...
TFS is wrong. It's not 105 T, it's 10^5 T.
I believe they prefer 'little people' now.
Indeed. I've read the abstract now. But 10^5 Tesla is about 100x what can be created in the lab, not 10000x
No idea where that 10000x came from. I might have guessed at the meaning if it hadn't been for that 10000x.
Tim.
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = -@B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t," and there was light.
Our magnet crazed Floridians have a 45 tesla magnet that can operate for short periods without destroying itself and the most powerful 'destructive pulsed electromagnets' can reach ~1000 tesla, for their quite brief operational lives. (.flv of such a magnet giving its life for science)
They're destroying the sanctity of traditional chemical bonding!
"Though shalt not lie with an atom magnetically as one would lie with an atom electrostatically. It is an abomination."
- Pauliticus 18:22
Everything is better with chainsaws.
Scientists discover an exotic fundamental particle called the ficton with the rest mass of a small moon that only existed in the unimaginable pressures and temperatures of the first 10^-25 seconds after the universe began its expansion. They promise it will allow users with next-generation PDAs to play Angry Birds with quantum computing.
Apparently the author of TFA has never heard of a type of material known as a metal either.
I think I'll have to dig up the Science article to get really meangful info on this.
I was disappointed that the best thing they could come up with was applications in quantum computing- there could be a host of novel synthesis based on this bond.
love is just extroverted narcissism
You know what's the saddest thing about your joke? That you're right. We'll get quantum computers that can do calculations at speeds we cannot even fathom today, yet in the end they'll be used to play silly games that could have run on a C64. And watching porn, of course.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
First of all, why seems everybody forgets about the metallic bonds?
Covalent: that old, nice and sharing couple;
Ionic: same as above, but one of them is abusive and electron digger;
Metallic bond: communism of electrons (or orgy, if you prefer).You know, covalent and ionic aFirst: covalent and ionic aren't two "types" of bonds but extremes of the same continuum. Some bonds - like in hydrogen fluoride - lie pretty much between them, not being fully ionic or fully covalent.
Second thing: ironically, there is no such thing as "types" of bonds. These three categories above aren't "unmixable", you have "metallic" bonds with covalent properties (like gold loves to make), you have borderline covalent-ionic bonds (like HF), this kind of thing. Think in them as extremes in a triangle, while most real life bonds lie inside this triangle.
Lastly, about the article itself... seems like "quantum computing" is what they put when they cannot think in an application to a Chem or Phys discovery nowadays. And I understood they didn't found a new bond type or whatever; their discovery was "oh look, orbitals can be deformed by magnetic fields!".
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So, two atoms fused together via this magnetic bonding, do they need to be in this ludicrous magnetic field to remain bonded?
If we, somehow, got the teslas to make a molecule or two of these, would they continue to exist outside of the lab? OR, if we went skinny-dipping in a white dwarf and picked up a handful of this crazy goop, and brought it back to earth, would they persist?
Also, does anyone really have even the slightest clue to the properties of these molecules?
While an insightful post, note that stranger things have happened. A lot of things can seem totally out of reach from practicality before a technological breakthrough or rapid series of continuous advances totally changes the picture.
"99 dead duelists of Dios on the wall. 99 dead duelists of Dios! Take one's ring, pass it around..."
A Dense Plasma Focus can produce Giga Gauss fields (1GG = 10^5 Tesla), though only in a very small space.
See for example:
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/1770673_Advances_towards_pB11_Fusion_with_the_Dense_Plasma_Focus"
(Was the first link that came up at Google searching for "dense plasma focus gg")
NOPE.
105 Chuck Tesla
Shouldn't that be a ferrocious magnetic field?
Sorry, somebody had to say it...
Everybody and their dog already knew that orbitals are deformed by magnetic fields. What they found is that the model of how they deform is wrong at very intense fields.
Rethinking email
Its not good for the floppy disks either.
Have gnu, will travel.