Physics of the Impossible Read online

  The plasma window has wide applications for space travel and industry. Many times, manufacturing processes need a vacuum to perform microfabrication and dry etching for industrial purposes, but working in a vacuum can be expensive. But with the plasma window one can cheaply contain a vacuum with the flick of a button.

  But can the plasma window also be used as an impenetrable shield? Can it withstand a blast from a cannon? In the future, one can imagine a plasma window of much greater power and temperature, sufficient to damage or vaporize incoming projectiles. But to create a more realistic force field, like that found in science fiction, one would need a combination of several technologies stacked in layers. Each layer might not be strong enough alone to stop a cannon ball, but the combination might suffice.

  The outer layer could be a supercharged plasma window, heated to temperatures high enough to vaporize metals. A second layer could be a curtain of high-energy laser beams. This curtain, containing thousands of crisscrossing laser beams, would create a lattice that would heat up objects that passed through it, effectively vaporizing them. I will discuss lasers further in the next chapter.

  And behind this laser curtain one might envision a lattice made of “carbon nanotubes,” tiny tubes made of individual carbon atoms that are one atom thick and that are many times stronger than steel. Although the current world record for a carbon nanotube is only about 15 millimeters long, one can envision a day when we might be able to create carbon nanotubes of arbitrary length. Assuming that carbon nanotubes can be woven into a lattice, they could create a screen of enormous strength, capable of repelling most objects. The screen would be invisible, since each carbon nanotube is atomic in size, but the carbon nanotube lattice would be stronger than any ordinary material.

  So, via a combination of plasma window, laser curtain, and carbon nanotube screen, one might imagine creating an invisible wall that would be nearly impenetrable by most means.

  Yet even this multilayered shield would not completely fulfill all the properties of a science fiction force field—because it would be transparent and therefore incapable of stopping a laser beam. In a battle with laser cannons, the multilayered shield would be useless.

  To stop a laser beam, the shield would also need to possess an 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 form, which is opaque.

  One day we might be able to use nanotechnology to produce a substance as tough as carbon nanotubes that can change its optical properties when exposed to laser light. In this way, a shield might be able to stop a laser blast as well as a particle beam or cannon fire. At present, however, photochromatics that can stop laser beams do not exist.

  MAGNETIC LEVITATION

  In science fiction, force fields have another purpose besides deflecting ray-gun blasts, and that is to serve as a platform to defy gravity. In the movie Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox rides a “hover board,” which resembles a skateboard except that it floats over the street. Such an antigravity device is impossible given the laws of physics as we know them today (as we will see in Chapter 10). But magnetically enhanced hover boards and hover cars could become a reality in the future, giving us the ability to levitate large objects at will. In the future, if “room-temperature superconductors” become a reality, one might be able to levitate objects using the power of magnetic force fields.

  If we place two bar magnets next to each other with north poles opposite each other, the two magnets repel each other. (If we rotate the magnet, so that the north pole is close to the other south pole, then the two magnets attract each other.) This same principle, that north poles repel each other, can be used to lift enormous weights off the ground. Already several nations are building advanced magnetic levitation trains (maglev trains) that hover just above the railroad tracks using ordinary magnets. Because they have zero friction, they can attain record-breaking speeds, floating over a cushion of air.

  In 1984 the world’s first commercial automated maglev system began operation in the United Kingdom, running from Birmingham International Airport to the nearby Birmingham International railway station. Maglev trains have also been built in Germany, Japan, and Korea, although most of them have not been designed for high velocities. The first commercial maglev train operating at high velocities is the initial operating segment (IOS) demonstration line in Shanghai, which travels at a top speed of 268 miles per hour. The Japanese maglev train in Yamanashi prefecture attained a velocity of 361 miles per hour, even faster than the usual wheeled trains.

  But these maglev devices are extremely expensive. One way to increase efficiency would be to use superconductors, which lose all electrical resistance when they are cooled down to near absolute zero. Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by Heike Onnes. If certain substances are cooled to below 20 K above absolute zero, all electrical resistance is lost. Usually when we cool down the temperature of a metal, its resistance decreases gradually. (This is because random vibrations of the atom impede the flow of electrons in a wire. By reducing the temperature, these random motions are reduced, and hence electricity flows with less resistance.) But much to Onnes’s surprise, he found that the resistance of certain materials fell abruptly to zero at a critical temperature.

  Physicists immediately recognized the importance of this result. Power lines lose a significant amount of energy by transporting electricity across long distances. But if all resistance could be eliminated, electrical power could be transmitted almost for free. In fact, if electricity were made to circulate in a coil of wire, the electricity would circulate for millions of years, without any reduction in energy. Furthermore, magnets of incredible power could be made with little effort from these enormous electric currents. With these magnets, one could lift huge loads with ease.

  Despite all these miraculous powers, the problem with superconductivity is that it is very expensive to immerse large magnets in vats of supercooled liquid. Huge refrigeration plants are required to keep liquids supercooled, making superconducting magnets prohibitively expensive.

  But one day physicists may be able to create a “room-temperature superconductor,” the holy grail of solid-state physicists. The invention of room-temperature superconductors in the laboratory would spark a second industrial revolution. Powerful magnetic fields capable of lifting cars and trains would become so cheap that hover cars might become economically feasible. With room-temperature superconductors, the fantastic flying cars seen in Back to the Future, Minority Report, and Star Wars might become a reality.

  In principle, one might be able to wear a belt made of superconducting magnets that would enable one to effortlessly levitate off the ground. With such a belt, one could fly in the air like Superman. Room-temperature superconductors are so remarkable that they appear in numerous science fiction novels (such as the Ringworld series written by Larry Niven in 1970).

  For decades physicists have searched for room-temperature superconductors without successs. It has been a tedious, hit-or-miss process, testing one material after another. But in 1986 a new class of substances called “high-temperature superconductors” was found that became superconductors at about 90 degrees above absolute zero, or 90 K, creating a sensation in the world of physics. The floodgates seemed to open. Month after month, physicists raced one another to break the next world’s record for a superconductor. For a brief moment it seemed as if the possibility of room-temperature superconductors would leap off the pages of science fiction novels and into our living rooms. But after a few years of moving at breakneck speed, research in high-temperature superconductors began to slow down.

  At present the world’s record for a high-temperature superconductor is held by a substance called mercury thallium barium calcium copper oxide, which becomes superconducting at 138 K
(-135°C). This relatively high temperature is still a long way from room temperature. But this 138 K record is still important. Nitrogen liquefies at 77 K, and liquid nitrogen costs about as much as ordinary milk. Hence ordinary liquid nitrogen could be used to cool down these high-temperature superconductors rather cheaply. (Of course, room-temperature superconductors would need no cooling whatsoever.)

  Embarrassingly enough, at present there is no theory explaining the properties of these high-temperature superconductors. In fact, a Nobel Prize is awaiting the enterprising physicist who can explain how high-temperature superconductors work. (These high-temperature superconductors are made of atoms arranged in distinctive layers. Many physicists theorize that this layering of the ceramic material makes it possible for electrons to flow freely within each layer, creating a superconductor. But precisely how this is done is still a mystery.)

  Because of this lack of knowledge, physicists unfortunately resort to a hit-or-miss procedure to search for new high-temperature superconductors. This means that the fabled room-temperature superconductor may be discovered tomorrow, next year, or not at all. No one knows when, or if, such a substance will ever be found.

  But if room-temperature superconductors are discovered, a tidal wave of commercial applications could be set off. Magnetic fields that are a million times more powerful than the Earth’s magnetic field (which is .5 gauss) might become commonplace.

  One common property of superconductivity is called the Meissner effect. If you place a magnet above a superconductor, the magnet will levitate, as if held upward by some invisible force. (The reason for the Meissner effect is that the magnet has the effect of creating a “mirror-image” magnet within the superconductor, so that the original magnet and the mirror-image magnet repel each other. Another way to see this is that magnetic fields cannot penetrate into a superconductor. Instead, magnetic fields are expelled. So if a magnet is held above a superconductor, its lines of force are expelled by the superconductor, and the lines of force then push the magnet upward, causing it to levitate.)

  Using the Meissner effect, one can imagine a future in which the highways are made of these special ceramics. Then magnets placed in our belts or our tires could enable us to magically float to our destination, without any friction or energy loss.

  The Meissner effect works only on magnetic materials, such as metals. But it is also possible to use superconducting magnets to levitate nonmagnetic materials, called paramagnets and diamagnets. These substances do not have magnetic properties of their own; they acquire their magnetic properties only in the presence of an external magnetic field. Paramagnets are attracted by an external magnet, while diamagnets are repelled by an external magnet.

  Water, for example, is a diamagnet. Since all living things are made of water, they can levitate in the presence of a powerful magnetic field. In a magnetic field of about 15 teslas (30,000 times the Earth’s field), scientists have levitated small animals, such as frogs. But if room-temperature superconductors become a reality, it should be possible to levitate large nonmagnetic objects as well, via their diamagnetic property.

  In conclusion, force fields as commonly described in science fiction do not fit the description of the four forces of the universe. Yet it may be possible to simulate many of the properties of force fields by using a multilayered shield, consisting of plasma windows, laser curtains, carbon nanotubes, and photochromatics. But developing such a shield could be many decades, or even a century, away. And if room-temperature superconductors can be found, one might be able to use powerful magnetic fields to levitate cars and trains and soar in the air, as in science fiction movies.

  Given these considerations, I would classify force fields as a Class I impossibility—that is, something that is impossible by today’s technology, but possible, in modified form, within a century or so.

  2: INVISIBILITY

  You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

  —MARK TWAIN

  In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a Klingon battle cruiser 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 Klingon ships can sneak up behind Federation starships and ambush them with impunity. This cloaking device has given the Klingon Empire a strategic advantage over the Federation of Planets.

  Is such a device really possible? Invisibility has long been one of the marvels of science fiction and fantasy, from the pages of The Invisible Man, to the magic invisibility cloak of the Harry Potter books, or the ring in The Lord of the Rings. Yet for at least a century, physicists 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 a major revision of optics textbooks. Working prototypes of such materials have actually been built in the laboratory, sparking intense interest by the media, industry, and the military in making the visible become invisible.

  INVISIBILITY THROUGHOUT HISTORY

  Invisibility is perhaps one of 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.

  Invisibility played a central part in Plato’s theory of ethics and morality. In his philosophical masterpiece, The Republic, Plato recounts the myth of the ring of Gyges. The poor but honest shepherd Gyges of Lydia enters a hidden cave and finds a tomb containing a corpse wearing a golden ring. Gyges discovers that this golden ring has the magical power to make him invisible. Soon this poor shepherd is intoxicated with the power this ring gives him. After sneaking into the king’s palace, Gyges uses his power to seduce the queen and, with her help, murder the king and become the next King of Lydia.

  The moral that Plato wished to draw out is that no man can resist the temptation of being able to steal and kill at will. All men are corruptible. Morality is a social construct imposed from the outside. A man may appear to be moral in public to maintain his reputation for integrity and honesty, but once he possesses the power of invisibility, the use of such power would be irresistible. (Some believe that this morality tale was the inspiration for J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which a ring that grants the wearer invisibility is also a source of evil.)

  Invisibility is also a common plot device in science fiction. In the Flash Gordon series of the 1930s, Flash becomes invisible in order to escape the firing squad of Ming the Merciless. In the Harry Potter novels and movies, Harry dons a special cloak that allows him to roam Hogwarts Castle undetected.

  H. G. Wells put much of this mythology into concrete form with his classic novel The Invisible Man, in which a medical student accidentally discovers the power of the fourth dimension and becomes invisible. Unfortunately, he uses this fantastic power for private gain, starts a wave of petty crimes, and eventually dies desperately trying to evade the police.

  MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS AND THE SECRET OF LIGHT

  It was not until the work of Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, one of the giants of nineteenth-century physics, that physicists had a firm understanding of the laws of optics. Maxwell, in some sense, was the opposite of Michael Faraday. Whereas Faraday had superb experimental instincts but no formal training whatsoever, Maxwell, a contemporary of Faraday, was a master of advanced mathematics. He excelled as a student of mathematical physics at Cambridge, where Isaac Newton had done his work two centuries earlier.


  Newton had invented the calculus, which was expressed in the language of “differential equations,” which describe how objects smoothly undergo infinitesimal changes in space and time. The motion of ocean waves, fluids, gases, and cannon balls could all be expressed in the language of differential equations. Maxwell set out with a clear goal, to express the revolutionary findings of Faraday and his force fields through precise differential equations.

  Maxwell began with Faraday’s discovery that electric fields could turn into magnetic fields and vice versa. He took Faraday’s depictions of force fields and rewrote them in the precise language of differential equations, producing one of the most important series of equations in modern science. They are a series of eight fierce-looking differential equations. Every physicist and engineer in the world has to sweat over them when mastering electromagnetism in graduate school.

  Next, Maxwell asked himself the fateful question: if magnetic fields can turn into electric fields and vice versa, what happens if they are constantly turning into each other in a never-ending pattern? Maxwell found that these electric-magnetic fields would create a wave, much like an ocean wave. To his astonishment, he calculated the speed of these waves and found it to be the speed of light! In 1864, upon discovering this fact, he wrote prophetically: “This velocity is so nearly that of light that it seems we have strong reason to conclude that light itself…is an electromagnetic disturbance.”

  It was perhaps one of the greatest discoveries in human history. For the first time the secret of light was finally revealed. Maxwell suddenly realized that everything from the brilliance of the sunrise, the blaze of the setting sun, the dazzling colors of the rainbow, and the firmament of stars in the heavens could be described by the waves he was scribbling on a sheet of paper. Today we realize that the entire electromagnetic spectrum—from radar to TV, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, microwaves, and gamma rays—is nothing but Maxwell waves, which in turn are vibrating Faraday force fields.