Scientists just made the first time crystal you can see

Comments

• SmoothOperator@lemmy.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Imagine a clock that doesn’t have electricity, but its hands and gears spin on their own for all eternity.

  No, no, no, these crystals still need energy to move. They talk about “all you have to do is shine a light on it”, yes, that adds energy.

  Cool results, but yet another failure of science communication.

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  • Taco2112@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Please forgive my ignorance but the quote you used suggests a clock running without electricity. The article never mentioned it running without an energy source.

    I have a tenuous grasp of physics so you could definitely be correct. Can someone with more education on this topic answer if photons can act as an electric current in this experiment?

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    • thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      in the case of crystals, they vibrate at a fixed frequency and that’s how the clock is driven.

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    • SmoothOperator@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Sure, that makes sense, but it feels like they’re implying “energy” when they say “electricity”.

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• sexy_peach@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I don’t really understand despite reading the article

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  • systemglitch@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    They created something that reacts to the energy created by light. Been done before, but possibly better now. They think it looks cool, it has possible applications in theory only, but nothing practical at this time.

    And it looks real cool. Swirls and shit.

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• mateofeo85@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Image

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