Bling for the sphinxes in the Time Forest
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2017 4:56 pm
How about, a necklace made of time crystals?
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The Sage of the Forest has some experience with that, especially with gas grills or kitchens.GlytchMeister wrote:I swear upon all that came from the Big Bang, if this is a pun about herbs I'm gonna set a great many things on fire.
Not quite (though as I mentioned earlier, people are still debating over the definition of a time crystal, much less whether one can really exist). One difference that does appear to be generally recognised is that in a time crystal, the gear system would simply turn itself.Warrl wrote:Sounds to me like they have a fancy quantum version of a gear and toggle, as in a ratchet. Application of a certain stimulus (force to turn the gear a bit) will cause it to shift to a different state (the toggle drops into the *next* gap between teeth). Because of the toggle the gear only turns in one direction, but repeated application of exactly the same stimulus will eventually bring it back around to exactly the state it started in, ready to repeat the whole process over again.
That would be a perpetual-motion machine. It needs the stimulus of an energy source. The article described a rather specific stimulus.Catawampus wrote:Not quite (though as I mentioned earlier, people are still debating over the definition of a time crystal, much less whether one can really exist). One difference that does appear to be generally recognised is that in a time crystal, the gear system would simply turn itself.Warrl wrote:Sounds to me like they have a fancy quantum version of a gear and toggle, as in a ratchet. Application of a certain stimulus (force to turn the gear a bit) will cause it to shift to a different state (the toggle drops into the *next* gap between teeth). Because of the toggle the gear only turns in one direction, but repeated application of exactly the same stimulus will eventually bring it back around to exactly the state it started in, ready to repeat the whole process over again.
Yeah, it needs the stimulus to get started. But once it achieves the "time crystal" configuration, it gains long term independent stability in the fourth dimension. That seems to be one of the more agreed-upon parts of the definition. A diamond crystal is formed by outside forces acting on the carbon atoms to get them into a three-dimensional crystal form, but once you have the diamond crystal you don't need anything other than the interatomic forces of the carbon atoms themselves to maintain it. And it will remain in that configuration for a long, long time. A time crystal is the same in principle, but while stable on the fourth dimension has more flexibility in the first three. In fact, once the atoms become a time crystal, then outside influence tends to be canceled out by the atoms reverting right back to their previous harmonic period. You have to hit it with something that totally disrupts the entire crystalline structure to permanently influence or break the thing.Warrl wrote:That would be a perpetual-motion machine. It needs the stimulus of an energy source. The article described a rather specific stimulus.
One article I read, specifically said that they (one type at least) would not create a perpetual motion machine in the usual sense. You cannot draw energy from them without disrupting the periodic state cycle.Catawampus wrote:A time crystal is the same in principle, but while stable on the fourth dimension has more flexibility in the first three. In fact, once the atoms become a time crystal, then outside influence tends to be canceled out by the atoms reverting right back to their previous harmonic period. You have to hit it with something that totally disrupts the entire crystalline structure to permanently influence or break the thing.
According to some of the theories, in the short term it does look like a perpetual motion machine. And short term could mean "longer than the expected life of the universe". Which is why there is some speculation about using time crystals (if they actually can exist, and if they can exist in that way) as a form of functionally eternal memory. The idea is to somehow use the periodic properties of the atoms to encode data, and then the crystal will be able to exist as a somewhat self-repairing unit.
If you were to leave the thing going for long enough, of course, it would eventually wear down. Energy would get lost, protons would decay, whatever.
Lanthis already had them...Catawampus wrote:
According to some of the theories, in the short term it does look like a perpetual motion machine. And short term could mean "longer than the expected life of the universe". Which is why there is some speculation about using time crystals (if they actually can exist, and if they can exist in that way) as a form of functionally eternal memory. The idea is to somehow use the periodic properties of the atoms to encode data, and then the crystal will be able to exist as a somewhat self-repairing unit.
If you were to leave the thing going for long enough, of course, it would eventually wear down. Energy would get lost, protons would decay, whatever.
Of course, the whole theory could also be totally fanciful, and we'll find out that time crystals aren't really possible after all.