Guys at the Penn State University seem to think so. Apparently they even have proof! Moses Chan, a professor at Penn State, and his colleagues have created what they call "supersolids" - crystals that can slide through each other. This is what Moses Chan says - "Imagine you have an orchestra together, but everyone is playing their own tune, until they begin to follow a conductor. In a normal solid, every atom has its own behavior until very close to absolute zero. Then quantum mechanics takes over and dictates everyone to play the same tune." Metaphorical chap.
I'm reminded of the T-1000 from Terminator 2. Remember the liquid nitrogen scene? Tiny droplets of the T-1000's liquid metal structure run back together to form a complete body, after being shattered by T-800 (Schwarzenegger, in case you were wondering). Supersolids do something similar. In Chan's words - "In classical physics, objects cannot share the same space. If I run into you, there will be a collision and the motion will stop. But in quantum mechanics, we become one thing."
Read more here and here.
This could be interesting... Imagine falling through the floor!
"brings up new privacy issues doesn't it?"
ReplyDeleteHeh... It sure does...