In Star Trek IV: The Voyager Home, a Klingon battle cruisier is hijacked by the crew of the Enterprise. Unlike the starships in the Federation Star Fleet, The starships of the Klingon Empire have a secret "cloaking device" that renders them invisible to light or radar, so that the Klingon ships can sneak up behind the Federation starships and ambush them. This cloaking device has given the Klingon Empire a strategic advantage over the Federation of Planets.
Is such a device possible? Invisibility has long been one the marvels of science fiction and fantasy, from the pages of The Invisible Man, to the magic invisibility cloak of Harry Potter, or the one ring in The Lord of the Rings. For at least a century, physicist have dismissed the possibility of invisibility cloaks, stating flatly that they are impossible: They violate the laws of optics and do not conform to any of the known properties of matter.
But today, the impossible may become possible. New advances in "metamaterials" are forcing the major revision of optics textbooks. Working prototypes of such materials have actually been built in the laboratory, sparkling intense interest by the media, industry, and the military in making the visible become invisible.
Invisibility is perhaps one the oldest concepts in ancient mythology. Since the advent of recorded history, people who have been alone on a creepy night have been frightened by the invisible spirits of the dead, the souls of the long-departed lurking in the dark. The Greek hero perseus was able to slay the evil medusa armed with the helmet of invisibility. Military generals have dreamed of an invisibility cloaking device. being invisible, one could easily penetrate enemy lines and capture the enemy by surprise. Criminals could use invisibility to pull off spectacular robberies.
Discoveries behind "metamaterials"? Creation of metamaterials was once thought to be impossible because they violate the laws of optics. But in 2006 researchers at Duke university in Durham, North Carolina, and Imperial College in Longon successfully defied conventional wisdom and used metamaterials to make an object invisible to microwave radiation. For the first time in history, we now have a blue print to render ordinary objects invisible.
Metamaterials are substances that have optical properties not found in nature. Metamaterials are create by embedding tiny implants within a substance that force electromagnetic waves to bend un unorthodox ways. The result was a sophisticated mixture of ceramic, Teflon, fiber composites, and metal compounds. These tiny implants in the copper make it possible to bend and channel the path of microwave radiation in a specific way. Think about the way a river flows around a boulder. If the metamaterial can eliminate all the reflection and shadows, then it can render an object totally invisible to that form of radiation.
Metamaterials for light? One proposal is to use the off-the-shelf technology, that is, to borrow known techniques from the semiconductor industry to create new metamaterials. A technique called "photolithography" lies at the heart of the computer miniaturization and hence drives the computer revolution. Photolithography enables engineers to place hundreds of millions of tiny transistors onto a silicon no bigger than your thumb.
A milestone in the quest for invisibility came when this silicon wafer etching technology was used by a group of scientist to create the first metamaterial that operates in the visible range of red light.
The scientists first started with a glass sheet, and then deposited a thin layer of silver, magnesium fluoride and another layer of silver that is only 100nm thick. Then, using standard etching techniques, they create a grid pattern resembling a fishnet. The next step would be use this technology to create a metamaterial that would bend red light entirely around an object, rendering it invisible to that light.
The key to invisibility may be nanotechnology, that is, the ability to manipulate atomic-sized structures about a billionth of a meter across.
Given the enormous progress made so far in achieving invisibility, it clearly qualifies as a Class I impossibility. Within the next few decades to at least within this century, a form of invisibility may be become commonplace.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Force Fields
"Shields up!"
A famous phrase in the Star trek series that is the first order that captain Kirk says to the crew, raising force fields to protect the starship Enterprise against enemy fire.
Force fields are vital that the tide of the battle can be measured by how the force fields is holding up. Whenever power is drained from the force fields, the Enterprise suffers more and more damage to the hull.
What is force field? In science fiction, it's simple: a thin and invisible yet impenetrable barrier able to deflect lasers and rockets. It could have profound effects on every aspect of our lives. The military could use force fields to become invulnerable, creating an impenetrable shield against enemy missiles and bullets. Bridges, superhighways and roads could be built by a simply pressing a button. Entire cities could appear instantly in the desert, with skyscrapers made entirely out of force field. Force fields appearing over cities could enable the inhabitants to modify the effects of the weather-high winds, blizzards, tornadoes-at will. Cities could be built under the oceans within the safe canopy of a force field. Glass and steel could be entirely replaced.
However, a force field is perhaps one the most difficult devices to create in the laboratory. In fact, some physicists believe it might actually be impossible.
The concept of force fields originates from the work of the great nineteenth-century british scientist Michael Faraday.
The young faraday was fascinated by the breakthroughs in uncovering the mysterious properties of two new forces: electricity and magnetism. Faraday was hired as Professor Davy's secretary, he slowly began to win the confidence of the scientists at the royal institution and was allowed to to conduct important experiments of his own.
In 1829, Faraday was free to make a series of stunning breakthroughs that led to the creation of the generators that would energize entire cities and change the course of the world civilization.
The key to Faraday's greatest discoveries was his "force fields". If one places iron filings over a magnet, one finds that the iron filings create a spiderweb-like pattern that fills up the space. These are Faraday's lines of force.
The theories behind force fields?
A plasma window. If a gas is heated to a high enough temperature, thus creating a plasma, it can be molded and shaped by magnetic and electrical fields. It can be shaped in the form of a sheet or window. In addition, the "plasma window" can be used to separate a vacuum from ordinary air. In another words, one might be able to prevent air within the spaceship from leaking out into space, thereby creating a convenient, transparent interface between outer space and the spaceship.
But the plasma window needs a combination of several other technologies stacked in layers to vaporize incoming projectiles.
The outer layer could be a super charged plasma window, heated to temperatures high enough to vaporize metals in an instant.
A second layer could a curtain of thousands of crisscrossing high-energy laser beams that would heat up objects that passed through it, effectively vaporizing them.
The third layer would be a lattice made of "carbon nanotubes", tiny tubes made of individual carbon atoms that are one atom thick and stronger than steel by a hundred times by comparison.
However, these several layers would not fulfill the science fiction force field because it would be transparent and therefore incapable of stopping a laser beam.
To stop a laser beam, the shield would also need to possess and advanced form of "photochromatics". This is the process used in sunglasses that darken by themselves upon exposure to UV radiation. Photochromatics are based on molecules that can exist in at least two states. In one state, the molecule is transparent. But when it is exposed to UV radiation, it instantly changes to the second state, which is opaque.
One day, we might be able to use nanotechnology to produce a substance as tough as carbon nanotubes that can change it properties when exposed to laser light.
It might be able to simulated many of the properties of force fields by using a multilayered shield, consisting of plasma windows, laser curtain, carbon nanotubes and photochromatics. But developing such a shield could be many decades or even a century away.
Give these consideration, force shields would be classified as Class I impossibility-something that is impossible by today's technology, but possible within a century or so.
A famous phrase in the Star trek series that is the first order that captain Kirk says to the crew, raising force fields to protect the starship Enterprise against enemy fire.
Force fields are vital that the tide of the battle can be measured by how the force fields is holding up. Whenever power is drained from the force fields, the Enterprise suffers more and more damage to the hull.
What is force field? In science fiction, it's simple: a thin and invisible yet impenetrable barrier able to deflect lasers and rockets. It could have profound effects on every aspect of our lives. The military could use force fields to become invulnerable, creating an impenetrable shield against enemy missiles and bullets. Bridges, superhighways and roads could be built by a simply pressing a button. Entire cities could appear instantly in the desert, with skyscrapers made entirely out of force field. Force fields appearing over cities could enable the inhabitants to modify the effects of the weather-high winds, blizzards, tornadoes-at will. Cities could be built under the oceans within the safe canopy of a force field. Glass and steel could be entirely replaced.
However, a force field is perhaps one the most difficult devices to create in the laboratory. In fact, some physicists believe it might actually be impossible.
The concept of force fields originates from the work of the great nineteenth-century british scientist Michael Faraday.
The young faraday was fascinated by the breakthroughs in uncovering the mysterious properties of two new forces: electricity and magnetism. Faraday was hired as Professor Davy's secretary, he slowly began to win the confidence of the scientists at the royal institution and was allowed to to conduct important experiments of his own.
In 1829, Faraday was free to make a series of stunning breakthroughs that led to the creation of the generators that would energize entire cities and change the course of the world civilization.
The key to Faraday's greatest discoveries was his "force fields". If one places iron filings over a magnet, one finds that the iron filings create a spiderweb-like pattern that fills up the space. These are Faraday's lines of force.
The theories behind force fields?
A plasma window. If a gas is heated to a high enough temperature, thus creating a plasma, it can be molded and shaped by magnetic and electrical fields. It can be shaped in the form of a sheet or window. In addition, the "plasma window" can be used to separate a vacuum from ordinary air. In another words, one might be able to prevent air within the spaceship from leaking out into space, thereby creating a convenient, transparent interface between outer space and the spaceship.
But the plasma window needs a combination of several other technologies stacked in layers to vaporize incoming projectiles.
The outer layer could be a super charged plasma window, heated to temperatures high enough to vaporize metals in an instant.
A second layer could a curtain of thousands of crisscrossing high-energy laser beams that would heat up objects that passed through it, effectively vaporizing them.
The third layer would be a lattice made of "carbon nanotubes", tiny tubes made of individual carbon atoms that are one atom thick and stronger than steel by a hundred times by comparison.
However, these several layers would not fulfill the science fiction force field because it would be transparent and therefore incapable of stopping a laser beam.
To stop a laser beam, the shield would also need to possess and advanced form of "photochromatics". This is the process used in sunglasses that darken by themselves upon exposure to UV radiation. Photochromatics are based on molecules that can exist in at least two states. In one state, the molecule is transparent. But when it is exposed to UV radiation, it instantly changes to the second state, which is opaque.
One day, we might be able to use nanotechnology to produce a substance as tough as carbon nanotubes that can change it properties when exposed to laser light.
It might be able to simulated many of the properties of force fields by using a multilayered shield, consisting of plasma windows, laser curtain, carbon nanotubes and photochromatics. But developing such a shield could be many decades or even a century away.
Give these consideration, force shields would be classified as Class I impossibility-something that is impossible by today's technology, but possible within a century or so.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Types of Science impossibilities
Many things around us, from fax machines, glass skyscrapers, gas-powered automobiles to a worldwide communications network and high-speed elevated trains, things that were was once declared impossible in the past, are possible today.
Pioneers of the past think human flights was not possible, but the wright brothers proved them wrong. Now the world is bustling with jumbo jets soaring through the skies world wide.
Pioneers of the past think teleportation was not possible, but discoveries made by Charles Bennett and a team of researchers at IBM made it possible in 1993. Human teleportation seems theoretically possible now which i'll post about teleportation in the coming weeks.
So what is truly considered impossible? Sciences never cease to amaze us with a heap of possibilities. The real differences between the impossible, the unlikely and imminent have never been so clear.
Where does the realm of Science fiction end?
To go into deeper in the realm of impossibilities, there are 3 classes of impossibilities.
The first are the Class I impossibilities. These are technologies that are impossible today but that do not violate the known laws of physics. So they might be possible in this century, or perhaps the next, in modified form. They include teleportation, antimatter engines, certain forms of telepathy, psychokinesis, invisibility, force fields and to name a few more.
The second category is the Class II impossibilities. These are technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world. if they are possible at all. they might be realized on a scale of millenia to millions of years in the future. They include time travel, hyperspace travel, travel through wormholes, faster than light travel and parallel universes.
The Last category is the Class III impossibilities. These are technologies that violate the known laws of physics which are downright impossible. Surprisingly, there are very few such technologies. If they do turn out to be possible, they would represent a fundamental shift in our understanding of physics
stay tune for future information of physics of the impossible.
Pioneers of the past think human flights was not possible, but the wright brothers proved them wrong. Now the world is bustling with jumbo jets soaring through the skies world wide.
Pioneers of the past think teleportation was not possible, but discoveries made by Charles Bennett and a team of researchers at IBM made it possible in 1993. Human teleportation seems theoretically possible now which i'll post about teleportation in the coming weeks.
So what is truly considered impossible? Sciences never cease to amaze us with a heap of possibilities. The real differences between the impossible, the unlikely and imminent have never been so clear.
Where does the realm of Science fiction end?
To go into deeper in the realm of impossibilities, there are 3 classes of impossibilities.
The first are the Class I impossibilities. These are technologies that are impossible today but that do not violate the known laws of physics. So they might be possible in this century, or perhaps the next, in modified form. They include teleportation, antimatter engines, certain forms of telepathy, psychokinesis, invisibility, force fields and to name a few more.
The second category is the Class II impossibilities. These are technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world. if they are possible at all. they might be realized on a scale of millenia to millions of years in the future. They include time travel, hyperspace travel, travel through wormholes, faster than light travel and parallel universes.
The Last category is the Class III impossibilities. These are technologies that violate the known laws of physics which are downright impossible. Surprisingly, there are very few such technologies. If they do turn out to be possible, they would represent a fundamental shift in our understanding of physics
stay tune for future information of physics of the impossible.
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