Tractor Beam Tech Is Demon
By Steve Robinson
Scientists at Edinburgh University believe they have created a nanomachine capable of moving distant objects using simply energy, hailing comparisons with the 'tractor beams' of science fiction.
The work has been partly inspired by scientist James Clerk Maxwell who, as a physicist in 1867, postulated that a tiny, atom-sized machine called 'Maxwell's Demon' could trap and exert force on molecules. Almost 150 years later, his vision is becoming a reality.
The machine continues recent work into harnessing the power of molecules. The research team has previously managed to push a droplet of liquid up a slope using molecular energy.
The device in question traps particles as they move in a particular direction, using energy to power the process. At the moment this energy is provided by light. The ultimate aim of this study and future experiments would be to create a laser which, when shone on an object, would cause it to move via the force of the molecules trapped.
The work is a fitting tribute to Maxwell, an important pioneer in the understanding of molecules, heat and light; many scientists hold him in as high a regard as Newton or Einstein.
"Last year was the 175th anniversary of James Clerk Maxwell's birth in Edinburgh, so it is fitting that advances in science mean that we can finally create a machine like the hypothetical one he pondered over so long ago," said Prof Leigh, the group's lead scientist.
It all sounds very Star Trek, moving objects around with beams of energy, but this paper has been published in the February edition of Nature and in theory could work for larger objects. If this comes to fruition, then in the not-too-distant future we may well see people carrying their shopping, not by struggling with the heavy load, but by simply pointing a laser pen at it.
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The work has been partly inspired by scientist James Clerk Maxwell who, as a physicist in 1867, postulated that a tiny, atom-sized machine called 'Maxwell's Demon' could trap and exert force on molecules. Almost 150 years later, his vision is becoming a reality.
The machine continues recent work into harnessing the power of molecules. The research team has previously managed to push a droplet of liquid up a slope using molecular energy.
The device in question traps particles as they move in a particular direction, using energy to power the process. At the moment this energy is provided by light. The ultimate aim of this study and future experiments would be to create a laser which, when shone on an object, would cause it to move via the force of the molecules trapped.
The work is a fitting tribute to Maxwell, an important pioneer in the understanding of molecules, heat and light; many scientists hold him in as high a regard as Newton or Einstein.
"Last year was the 175th anniversary of James Clerk Maxwell's birth in Edinburgh, so it is fitting that advances in science mean that we can finally create a machine like the hypothetical one he pondered over so long ago," said Prof Leigh, the group's lead scientist.
It all sounds very Star Trek, moving objects around with beams of energy, but this paper has been published in the February edition of Nature and in theory could work for larger objects. If this comes to fruition, then in the not-too-distant future we may well see people carrying their shopping, not by struggling with the heavy load, but by simply pointing a laser pen at it.
Steve writes well. How well? Click here to find out.
Image: Maria Herrera
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