Physicists Propose "Perpetual Motion" Time Crystals

First time accepted submitter b30w0lf writes "It is commonly understood that crystals exist in a state of matter that is periodic in space. Meanwhile, relativistic physics tells us that we should think of time as being a physical dimension, given similar status to the other spacial dimensions. The combination of these two ideas has lead researchers at the University of Kentucky and MIT to propose special manifestations of matter which would be periodic in both space and time, dubbed 'time crystals.' Time crystals would continually transition between a set of physical states in a kind of perpetual motion. Note: the articles stress that this kind of perpetual motion in no way violates the established laws of thermodynamics. While time crystals remain theoretical, methods have been proposed for creating them. The most obvious application of time crystals is the creation of very precise clocks; however, other applications to time crystals have been proposed, ranging from quantum computing to helping us understand certain cosmological models."

Comments

Doc Brown had it all wrong...

[Anonymous Coward]

So it should have been flux time crystals, not the flux capacitor...

Now, where's that Delorean???

Time crysals. What Timecubes are made of

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.timecube.com/

They do not propose "Perpetual Motion"

[KBentley57]

If one reads the article, in the last paragraph the statement occurs: "Time crystals may sound dangerously close to a perpetual motion machine, but it is worth emphasizing one key difference: while time crystals would indeed move periodically in an eternal loop, rotation occurs in the ground state, with no work being carried out nor any usable energy being extracted from the system." They aren't proposing "mechanical perpetual motion" like we are probably all thinking at first glance. The crystal isn't doing anything abnormal. No energy is to be gained from the system, so at least mechanically, nothing is happening.

Re:It's like Seinfeld.

[JustOK]

call it the Sien field

Re:commonly understood

[lennier]

It is commonly understood that crystals exist in a state of matter that is periodic in space.

If your Bullshit Detector didn't go off as soon you read this in the original post

Mine didn't. Does yours need calibration?

A crystal structure is composed of a pattern, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a lattice exhibiting long-range order and symmetry. Patterns are located upon the points of a lattice, which is an array of points repeating periodically in three dimensions.

Periodicity is a well-defined concept.