Atom Breaks Rules, Beats Friction

[tocqueville]

Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Thu Mar 30, 3:00 PM ET

Scientists have found a molecule that can spin freely in liquid, clearing out water like a person swinging suitcases would clear a crowded room.

The molecule spins without causing friction

[LiberalVoice]

1. My god.

Im no scientist but isn't this kind of a huge deal? Imagine what a large group of atoms like those could do if the energy from a larger rotation could be harnessed and converted to electricity somehow.

On Edit: Or maybe im just stoned. :smoke:

[seriousstan]

7. It had to be heated to 4,427 C . That takes energy.

So just remember.....puff,puff,pass.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Sounds like the molecule in the White House...

"...heated up to 8,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4,427 Celsius) and started spinning at a furious 270 trillion rotations per minute."

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Occulus]

3. Zaphod said nothing. He had simply fallen in love.

The blackness of it was so extreme that it was almost impossible to tell how close you were standing to it.

"Your eyes just slide off it ..." said Ford in wonder. It was an emotional moment. He bit his lip.

Zaphod moved forward to it, slowly, like a man possessed - or more accurately like a man who wanted to possess. His hand reached out to stroke it. His hand stopped. His hand reached out to stroke it again. His hand stopped again.

"Come and feel the surface," he said in a hushed voice.

Ford put his hand out to feel it. His hand stopped.

"You ... you can't ..." he said.

"See?" said Zaphod, "it's just totally frictionless. This must be one mother of a mover ..."

-Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

[phoebe]

4. have we finally discovered how to produce frictionless energy??

What a beautiful thing - here's to the new revolution..

[mainegreen]

5. "the water [is] displaced, but doesn't do anything to the peanut molecule"

Its official. I understand nothing. Seriously. Nothing.

How can something exert a force without a force being exerted back on it? I seem to remember that being a pretty important rule or something!

:think: :dunce:

[htuttle]

6. Cover a submarine with this stuff, and you could really get moving!