Aug 5, 2016 04:35 AM
All plants on Earth may owe their existence to a spooky trick of quantum physics
http://www.techinsider.io/plants-use-qua...rgy-2016-8
EXCERPT: [...] Quantum physics governs the universe on incredibly small scales - including at the level of molecules inside chloroplasts, the structures inside plants where photosynthesis happens. At that level, particles don't behave the way that matter we interact with every day does. For example, the position of particles in quantum physics isn't described by a set location, but by the mathematical probability that will be in any particular location. When you add these probabilities together, you end up with the spooky principle of superposition - particles existing in several places and states at once. Photosynthesis takes abundant photons of sunlight and puts it to use with incredible speed and efficiency, losing almost no energy in the process. So what the photons may actually be doing is going through all the pathways in the leaf simultaneously. That includes the most efficient one, which will deliver the maximum amount of energy in the minimal of time....
You Can Make These Mysterious “Antibubbles” at Home
http://nerdist.com/you-can-make-these-my...s-at-home/
EXCERPT: Name one person who doesn’t enjoy bubbles. They are simple, beautiful, and fun. We learn to associate bubbles with whimsy and delight from an early age, but if a physicist had explained that bubbles’ mysterious cousin, the “antibubble,” was something we could be playing with at home, who knows which chemical orb would have won out. [...] The bubbles you blew as a kid (or an adult, that’s cool) are basically gas enveloped in a thin film of liquid. Antibubbles, on the other wand, are liquids encased in a layer of gas. Because liquid is more dense than gas, antibubbles tend to sink or float, rather than rise into the air. However, antibubbles don’t have the same molecular structure that typical bubbles do, as the video points out. That makes them much more likely to pop, but I’d argue that watching these tiny oddities pop is more interesting anyway...
http://www.techinsider.io/plants-use-qua...rgy-2016-8
EXCERPT: [...] Quantum physics governs the universe on incredibly small scales - including at the level of molecules inside chloroplasts, the structures inside plants where photosynthesis happens. At that level, particles don't behave the way that matter we interact with every day does. For example, the position of particles in quantum physics isn't described by a set location, but by the mathematical probability that will be in any particular location. When you add these probabilities together, you end up with the spooky principle of superposition - particles existing in several places and states at once. Photosynthesis takes abundant photons of sunlight and puts it to use with incredible speed and efficiency, losing almost no energy in the process. So what the photons may actually be doing is going through all the pathways in the leaf simultaneously. That includes the most efficient one, which will deliver the maximum amount of energy in the minimal of time....
You Can Make These Mysterious “Antibubbles” at Home
http://nerdist.com/you-can-make-these-my...s-at-home/
EXCERPT: Name one person who doesn’t enjoy bubbles. They are simple, beautiful, and fun. We learn to associate bubbles with whimsy and delight from an early age, but if a physicist had explained that bubbles’ mysterious cousin, the “antibubble,” was something we could be playing with at home, who knows which chemical orb would have won out. [...] The bubbles you blew as a kid (or an adult, that’s cool) are basically gas enveloped in a thin film of liquid. Antibubbles, on the other wand, are liquids encased in a layer of gas. Because liquid is more dense than gas, antibubbles tend to sink or float, rather than rise into the air. However, antibubbles don’t have the same molecular structure that typical bubbles do, as the video points out. That makes them much more likely to pop, but I’d argue that watching these tiny oddities pop is more interesting anyway...