Perpetual motion 'time crystals' may exist - Technology & science - Science - LiveScience - msnbc.com: "t his arguments in a pair of papers posted Feb. 12 on arXiv.org, one of which was co-authored by physicist Alfred Shapere of the University of Kentucky. The authors plan to submit their work to "
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From diamonds to snowflakes to salt, crystals are common in nature. The arrangement of their atoms in orderly, repeating patterns extending in all three spatial dimensions doesn't just make them nice to look at; crystals are also the vital components of technologies from electrical transistors to LCD screens.
In groundbreaking new research, Nobel-winning physicist Frank Wilczek contends that “time crystals,” moving structures that repeat periodically in the fourth dimension, exist as well.
A time crystal would be a physical object whose constituent parts move in a repeating pattern. Think of a kaleidoscope, whose sparkly bits swirl on loop forever, or a clock, whose hour hand completes a 360-degree turn every 12 hours. But unlike clocks or other common objects with moving parts, time crystals would run forever under their own steam — perpetual motion devices permitted by the laws of physics.
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