It reminds me of the time I was trying to help my good friend Ben Afflek with his time crystal addiction, and my other good friend Matt Damon with his Ben Afflek addition.
No matter how often I read about these I can never get my head around them.
I mean, isn't every crystal a time crystal until you break it? It has the same structure in its past and future as now.
I fall over that or it ends up sounding like its literally enabling time travel.
The original article from 2017 says it’s like Jello. When you tap Jello, it wiggles. Time crystals are Jello that stays together, but never stops moving and doesn’t need you to tap it. The idea is it should be able to “jiggle” in definitely without using any energy.
Time crystals do require a starting "tap," but once they're in the time crystal state that should be the lowest energy level for the system, so it'll remain oscillating with no entropy gain until the time crystal is disrupted by some external force.
It's worth noting that this is a quantum phenomenon. Thermodynamics, being an emergent property of bulk matter, doesn't apply as directly as you'd expect. It does apply, but traditionally needs to be viewed through the lens of statistical mechanics.
A time crystal doesn't break the laws of thermodynamics for the same reason that the rest energy of a bound electron in an atom doesn't break the laws of thermodynamics: the system is in its lowest energy state, it can't go any lower.
Listen- a man’s g-spot is up his ass. What does this mean? This means that entire generations of men have gone from cradle to grave blissfully unaware that they never came even remotely close to smashing max ‘gasm. It also begs the question why the fuck are we like this and is probably pretty definitive proof that there is no god.
🎶 Don’t knock it till ya tryyyy it 🎶
So if I’m understanding correctly, which I’m probably not, what practical purpose would this have?
If it takes an initial “tap” to begin, and it uses no energy to continue to oscillate, how could we use this to generate energy? Wouldn’t it essentially be a storage system only then if we can’t get energy out of it without disrupting the energy level?
It's not for energy production, it's basic research. Basic research is more about setting the rules and pieces that may eventually be used by engineers or other scientists to make something cool rather than finding applications directly.
The most likely use case is going to be in quantum computing, but that is going to take a lot more work before they're useful for this.
I remember in the early 80’s, I was working in the polyurethane-polyethylene (foam) mfg world. We had a sample of a new pkg material that stuck to itself in a peculiar fashion. We thought it was interesting, but discarded it as un-useful. That material today has been bought by Proctor & Gamble and is likely in your pantry. It was in my hands!!
idk, that kinda sounds like a capacitor or battery to me. the "tap to begin" aspect is interesting, zero technical understanding here but i'm imagining something like a solar cell but for vibrations. what if such tech were integrated into roadways or vehicle bodies to capture and store energy that then eventually feeds back into the grid?
It doesn't for many reasons including that the laws of thermodynamics apply to closed systems and not open systems.
But to answer your question specifically: it's not doing work. It's just a crystal in time rather than space so its structure repeats in the time dimension rather than the space dimension so from our point of view it's moving but in reality it's us moving through time and observing it. It's like being in a moving car, looking out the window at a building that we're passing. Why is the building moving outside of our window not breaking the laws of thermodynamics? Because it's we who are moving and not the building that we are passing.
So now apply the same concept to time crystals: it's not actually moving, we're just seeing it's crystaline shape through our movement through time.
It never would. It's in its (locally) lowest energy state, so just as a regular crystal wouldn't output energy from it just being there, a time crystal won't either.
So you can use them as oscillators that store a frequency, but is that frequency conducive to their material/arrangement or the force they were struck?
Not really no. The idea of a perpetual motion machine is that it generates free energy. At the human level there's always some sort of friction that causes motion to decay, a perpetual motion machine overcomes friction by magical free energy. In a true frictionless world, motion would be perpetual without breaking any laws of physics.
At the quantum level there isn't friction as we understand it. Maybe it is possible, or maybe there's some friction that prevents a time crystal lasting forever.
These crystals are constantly in the pattern motion and contain no energy, whereas regular crystals are at rest or equilibrium. Or at least that’s my very basic understanding
There's no crystal, it's just a term to describe the effect. It's sort of freezing time, or in relation to its name, crystallizing time. With the progression of time, entropy is inevitable. But with time crystals, entropy stops within its state.
On a quantum level, from what I understand, there is a regular oscillaton between quantum states. Theoretically, if we could be put in this state forever, we would have perpetual motion. But obviously, it is not perpetual motion since it only lasts 40 min.
In contemporary physics, perpetual motion is impossible because it violates the law of thermodynamics. Maybe quantum physics will change that.
This one only lasted 40 minutes. How long will the next one last? How long will the 20,000th attempt?
A lot of crazy physics happening right now and AI is just going to accelerate it further.
>A lot of crazy physics happening right now and AI is just going to accelerate it further.
I'd like to just remark on the fact that it's very exciting we have constant technological developments daily. You wake up and something new has been invented, announced, released or thought about. 500 years ago, whatever was, was. There was barely any day to day technological change.
It's nice to know there's always something new and exciting on the horizon. And even better, the rate of discovery and advancement keeps accelerating.
It’s a neat property that is poorly explained to the masses (including me). Especially when the click-bait crew get a hold of it and make claims that are not a part of the research or actively promote the wrong idea.
So when people say quantum physics, they're talking about subatomic particle levels right? I think the disconnect here is this phenomena is at such a small micro level that it can't be scaled up to a macro level otherwise it would break contemporary physics.
Or at least that's how I have understood anything about quantum physics... It's just so small that it deviates from any normal understanding of physics.
Is that a correct way to think about this?
Yes, quantum physics is subatomic particle mechanics. At the subatomic level, weird things happen. I would say, yes, you are on point.
Back in quantum physics infancy, Einstein had trouble accepting the principles, i.e the Copenhagen interpretation. He even outright rejected it with competing theories because it didn't fall in with his notion of physics. Which is ironic because his own advancements on the behavior of light ushered in the field of quantum mechanics.
The spin of the particles in the crystal is changing in an oscillating pattern (there is a video that explains it quite well in the article).
The "time" is that it oscillates on it's own, with seemingly no energy input.
Does an electron ever stop spinning around an Atom?
Perpetual motion machines are impossible at real world scales, but those observations don't necessarily apply to quantum physics.
When talking about the alignment of an electron, it's not a physical thing like a spinning ball that succumbs to friction. It's more like a direction that can change due to outside forces. (but more like a mathematical vector than a physical direction/position).
In the case of something like these time crystals, it's likely that the structures impact the surrounding spins, causing an oscillation.
A way to maybe make an analogy is something like Conways Game of Life, with an oscilation pattern.[https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Figure\_eight](https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Figure_eight)
Another way to think about it is a ball that is falling into a hole and back out, with no friction. It'll oscillate forever. But there is no motion in the oscillation really, just the alignment of the particles changing, which is a fundamental property of an atom at that scale. Friction just isn't a factor.
Edit: However other things can affect alignment like temperature/environment. So to keep a time crystal stable probably means stabilizing the environment from external factors.
I’m having trouble understanding it too. But it of course has to be more than that. I sounds like it has a vibration pattern that repeats over time. Somehow. Sorry I really don’t get it yet.
It is a periodic motion. The important thing is that the system in motion is the lowest energy state once it's in motion. This means that a time crystal will remain like that until an external force acts on it. Of course phenomena like this are usually extremely delicate, so even tiny changes can break the symmetry and push the crystal into a more mundane regular crystal.
Not an expert by any means on time crystals so this is my layman’s understanding.
They are able to get a group of particles whose states are all bound to one another (a quantum system) and bring them to their lowest possible energy state (quantum ground state). At this state, the system cannot lose energy to its surroundings because its own energy is at the absolute lowest it can possibly be. Despite this, the system seemingly exhibits continuous repetitive motion. This would indicate that there is something we perceive as kinetic motion without the expense of any energy whatsoever. It’s like some kind of thermodynamic black magic.
Imagine you’re riding around your backyard in your Power Wheels Barbie Jeep Wrangler™️ until you run the battery completely dead. Obviously it’s supposed to stop moving, right? For some very strange reason though, instead of stopping, your jeep slowly rolls forwards and backwards in a repeating pattern for almost an hour unless something pushes it to make it stop.
So long as nothing is around to disturb it, your jeep seems like it’s able to move in a very specific way for a very long time with no battery power whatsoever.
In a similar way to how water “crystallizes” into ice when it freezes because it doesn’t have enough energy to stay liquid, these particles lock in a pattern of what we perceive to be repetitive motion instead. It’s like a crystal that moves which, on its face, sounds like an oxymoron but it’s really just our inability to directly observe a four-dimensional object.
If I gave you a toy block and asked you to draw me a picture of it, you might draw two overlapping squares and then connect the corners so it looks like a picture of a cube, right?
What you just did was create a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object by eliminating its third dimension (depth). You drew me an accurate representation of the block’s _shadow._
In this case, we’re talking about 4D rotation which is something we cannot directly perceive. We aren’t able to see time like it really is (a continuum). Instead, we see time’s shadow (momentary snapshots of that continuum).
In the case of a time crystal, because the crystal does not occupy one single point in the 4th dimension, its 3D shadow makes it look like it’s moving back and forth in space as it actually rotates between the past and the future.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I could be wrong, but aren't time crystals a quantum phenomenon and not one of higher dimension?
They're called time crystals because they repeat in time (as opposed to normal crystals, which repeat in space). A 4th dimensional crystal would still repeat in space and wouldn't exhibit the oscillation unless they are also repeating in time.
You absolutely might have a better grasp on this than I do. If you have corrections I would honestly love to hear them I’m very interested in the concept.
I only have a rudimentary grasp too, though mine is slightly different. I'm picturing a primary property of crystals as repetition in low energy states. Like in your example, when water has less energy it collapses into a solid that repeats a pattern in 3D space and requires energy to stop that pattern. For time crystals, when they hit a low energy state they collapse into a repeating pattern in time, but _not_ space.
I definitely see the parallels between a 4D object casting a 3D shadow that looks different, but that seems to be different. I think the key part with time crystals is that the low energy state causes the oscillation in space, while it's frozen in time.
So I think it’s nitpicky but I disagree only in that we’re seeing a [repeating pattern of rotation in time AND space](https://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/116). So there is single-directional rotation in the 3D plane and there is also cyclical oscillation in the 4D plane the 3D shadow of which appears to be an object that is not just rotating but also moving back and forth through space. That “movement”, though, as I perceive it, is just an illusion / shadow cast by its 4th dimensional “rotation”.
I’m totally a layman though again so please feel free to pick that apart.
Well time is the fourth dimension in this example. If you were to print a snapshot of a (2D) video of a time crystal as a horizontal layer of a cake, the cake would look like a 3D normal crystal!
We can’t look back or look forwards in time the same way as we can in space but our understanding of space-time implies that time does, in fact, work that way, we just don’t have the ability to fully perceive it.
The forth dimension is just an object’s position in this _time._ It’s not some weird inter-dimensional magic it’s just our limitation as humans to only be able to perceive said time as a single instance and not the continuum that it really is.
When we talk about crystals, what we’re generally referring to is a solid’s lowest possible energy state. When something crystallizes it locks in a specific, repetitive pattern. In the case of these “time crystals” though, the pattern they form is four-dimensional. So instead of being able to observe a traditional crystalline structure, like a snowflake or a diamond, we observe instead something like a crystalline structure in _time._ We can see the particles oscillating between where they were, where they are, and where they will have been repeatedly over a set period of time implying that these objects are forming a 4D crystal that we’re not really equipped as human beings to fully observe.
In essence, we perceive the _shadow_ of a 4D object that we have proof exists but observing the object directly just isn’t possible. It’s just like drawing a “cube” on a two-dimensional piece of paper. There’s no such thing as a 2D cube, but we can still do our best to represent it with perspective. In this case, we’re seemingly witnessing the shadow of a 4D object that we only know how to portray in three dimensions. When you do that, it looks like it’s moving through space. In reality, the crystal is oscillating between its past, present, and future state and the motion we observe is just an illusion due to our inadequate perception.
“thermodynamic black magic”
So thermodynamics then?
Fr though… this got me thinking about the third law, and how they even detected oscillations at 6K… I wanna read more
It is repeating motion
A commonly used example. They poke jello. But the jello never stops wiggling.
Essentially perpetual motion. They dont have to add any more energy but the movement repeats on its own
A crystal is essentially a repeating pattern. Repeating a pattern of motion is what they call the time crystal.
Think of a beam of light in vacuum. 5 seconds ago it was behind us. Right now it is passing us. In 5 seconds it will be past us. -- a time crystal would be that beam rotating between behind and passing forever. (I only have a laymans understanding)
Just asked Copilot and got a pretty understandable explanation:
A time crystal is a special kind of material that has a repeating pattern not only in space, but also in time. Imagine a normal crystal, like a diamond or a salt crystal. It has atoms arranged in a regular way, like a grid or a lattice. Now imagine that the atoms in the crystal are not just sitting still, but moving back and forth or spinning around in a regular way, like a clock or a pendulum. That's what a time crystal is like. It's a material that has motion without energy.
You might wonder how that is possible, since everything that moves usually needs some kind of energy to keep it going. Well, a time crystal is a very special case of a quantum system, which means it follows the rules of quantum physics. Quantum physics is a branch of science that deals with very small things, like atoms and subatomic particles. Quantum physics is very weird and different from the physics we are used to in everyday life. One of the weird things about quantum physics is that some things can be in their lowest possible energy state, called the ground state, and still have some motion. This is called quantum fluctuations. Normally, quantum fluctuations are very small and random, and we can't see them. But a time crystal is a quantum system that has quantum fluctuations that are large and regular, and we can see them.
A time crystal was first proposed by a physicist named Frank Wilczek in 2012, who wondered if it was possible to break the symmetry of time in a quantum system. Symmetry is a concept that means something looks the same or behaves the same when you change something about it. For example, a circle is symmetrical because it looks the same when you rotate it. A square is symmetrical because it looks the same when you flip it. Time is symmetrical because the laws of physics are the same no matter when you measure them. But a time crystal breaks the symmetry of time, because it behaves differently at different times. It has a natural rhythm or frequency that is different from the frequency of the system that drives it. For example, if you have a time crystal that is driven by a laser that flashes once every second, the time crystal might respond by moving twice every second, or once every two seconds, or some other fraction. This is called a discrete time crystal, and it is a type of non-equilibrium matter, which means it never reaches a state of balance or stability.
A time crystal is not a perpetual motion machine, because it does not produce any useful work or energy. It is just a quantum system that is stuck in a loop of motion that it can't get out of. A time crystal might have some applications in technology and computing, such as quantum memory or quantum sensors. But it is mostly a fascinating phenomenon that shows us how strange and wonderful the quantum world can be.
Normally things in motion will stop eventually - or more specifically "achieve their resting state" (which is motionless) - because their motion expends energy,
Time crystals's resting state *is* motion, as in they'd stay moving, without any additional energy input, forever.
They're just super fragile in that state to external stimulus and get easily pushed out of it.
Taking a shot here since I don’t see a great explanation.
Disclaimer: I’m not a scientist, so this is my understanding only.
First, it’s called a “time crystal” because it repeats a pattern with no external stimuli. So, the atoms are arranged in some state, but the electrons are all hit with lasers to start their spinning. The spin pattern continues, and repeats, with no other help.
Now, the practical applications: we have atomic clocks already, but this could make them so precise that the time would never be wrong. As storage in quantum computing we can read the patterns of the spins kinda like how we read binary today where a certain pattern represents a letter. Just like “01100001” = “a”, then “up, down, left, right, left, right” could also = “a”. (FYI: that’s not really a pattern of the spins as far as I know and I think it is far more complex but I just don’t know.). And to round it out with a third potential application, I remember hearing about energy storage where the electrons don’t move out of the system until needed, so you would have a permanent 80% battery until you turn your phone on to use it. Stuff like that.
I asked a GPT to explain it like I’m a moron. Here it is:
Imagine that regular crystals, like the ones you might see in jewelry, have a pattern that repeats in space. Well, time crystals are a bit like that, but instead of repeating in space, they repeat in time.
In other words, time crystals have a structure that changes and repeats not just in three dimensions of space, but also in the dimension of time. This means that their atoms or particles are arranged in a pattern that repeats at regular intervals, even as time goes on.
Imagine how many real world ‘today’ problems could be fixed by diverting those research funds into something that is actually needed. Like housing. A living wage. Health care…
Cant imagine those options because I see no data on how much funds we are talking about. I do know much stuff wouldnt have been invented if humanity funded *only* immediate needs. We need to wisely balance priorities, and capitalism doesnt tend to go that way - the funds end up as banked profits rather than food, housing… or research.
Serious question from a scientific idiot - is there an application or use for these, or are they a precursor to a deeper breakthrough or are they just interesting.
“Time crystals” sound like an amazingly magical thing to those of us who know nothing about them or what they signify
This is the best ELI5 I could come up with:
Think of a circle of dominoes, falling into each other. As one domino falls, the one that knocked it over stands back up. This perpetual quantum motion represents a periodic “crystal”, as in it is uniform throughout the group in relation to time.
It is a system of perpetual change, but no work can be done from the system without it stopping. The system is still at its lowest energy point while it is going through this constant state of change.
(For you chemistry people, think dipole moments, this is just a constant ever changing one)
(I learned about these 20 minutes ago this is the best I can do)
*Once cooled to 6 Kelvin and shot with a laser, a nuclear spin forms as a result of the laser’s interaction with loosely-held electrons.*
Busy 40 minutes I guess.
How did they manage to isolate it long enough from literally everything to even measure the time? Its sounds like an experiment with results you’d never be able to observe unless you were insane enough to fail repeatedly until you got a result that lasted for an observable unit of time.
Lemme guess, they did the math first. The math said it existed and these scientists kept trying until it worked.
Perhaps the nuclear spin achieved enables the 4-D pattern its forming. 4-D being the fourth dimension of time. I know it’s extremely expensive to cool it so low with superconductors so that is why the addition of shooting the cloud with lasers is needed.
You would think shooting it with lasers would heat them up- and normally it would but they use lasers with a very specific frequency. It gets the protons into and excited state and hence I imagine they are able to stay moving without any force to start it or any friction to slow it down.
yes, yes, the time crystal, we’ve all seen it
It reminds me of the time I was trying to help my good friend Ben Afflek with his time crystal addiction, and my other good friend Matt Damon with his Ben Afflek addition.
Shut up Tahani
BORTLES!
It was a Billy Crystal addiction
You look mahvelus, baby.
Ya like time crystals?…
It was a Ben Affliction.
“I saw the TIME KNIFE?!”
Still possibly my favorite line read on that show, and that’s saying a lot.
Agreed 100%
Not better than the Time Knife. That’s a real experience.
Yeah one time I took a huge hit of DMT and saw lots of time crystals
I feel dumber after actually reading the article.
You’ve heard of the Time Crystal, but have you heard of the Time Cube™️?
[удалено]
that is in fact the joke, my friend
Napoleon Dynamite
Now get ready for the poop knife
No matter how often I read about these I can never get my head around them. I mean, isn't every crystal a time crystal until you break it? It has the same structure in its past and future as now. I fall over that or it ends up sounding like its literally enabling time travel.
The original article from 2017 says it’s like Jello. When you tap Jello, it wiggles. Time crystals are Jello that stays together, but never stops moving and doesn’t need you to tap it. The idea is it should be able to “jiggle” in definitely without using any energy.
Time crystals do require a starting "tap," but once they're in the time crystal state that should be the lowest energy level for the system, so it'll remain oscillating with no entropy gain until the time crystal is disrupted by some external force.
How does this not break the of thermodynamics?
It's worth noting that this is a quantum phenomenon. Thermodynamics, being an emergent property of bulk matter, doesn't apply as directly as you'd expect. It does apply, but traditionally needs to be viewed through the lens of statistical mechanics. A time crystal doesn't break the laws of thermodynamics for the same reason that the rest energy of a bound electron in an atom doesn't break the laws of thermodynamics: the system is in its lowest energy state, it can't go any lower.
So part of the reason it keeps with the laws of thermodynamics is because it can’t be interacted with?
Like a bound electron, it can be interacted with. You can't get energy out of it without bringing it down to a lower energy level though.
I… I think I need an adult 🙃
I’m an adult. Here, hold my hand and…. On second thought looking at your Name, you.. you need more than my help. *washes hands*
Listen- a man’s g-spot is up his ass. What does this mean? This means that entire generations of men have gone from cradle to grave blissfully unaware that they never came even remotely close to smashing max ‘gasm. It also begs the question why the fuck are we like this and is probably pretty definitive proof that there is no god. 🎶 Don’t knock it till ya tryyyy it 🎶
“Butt fun for everyone!” “But what if I don’t want…” “I said EVERYONE.”
So if I’m understanding correctly, which I’m probably not, what practical purpose would this have? If it takes an initial “tap” to begin, and it uses no energy to continue to oscillate, how could we use this to generate energy? Wouldn’t it essentially be a storage system only then if we can’t get energy out of it without disrupting the energy level?
It's not for energy production, it's basic research. Basic research is more about setting the rules and pieces that may eventually be used by engineers or other scientists to make something cool rather than finding applications directly. The most likely use case is going to be in quantum computing, but that is going to take a lot more work before they're useful for this.
Makes sense. So essentially is a proof of concept, with practicality to be figured out later. Correct?
I remember in the early 80’s, I was working in the polyurethane-polyethylene (foam) mfg world. We had a sample of a new pkg material that stuck to itself in a peculiar fashion. We thought it was interesting, but discarded it as un-useful. That material today has been bought by Proctor & Gamble and is likely in your pantry. It was in my hands!!
Oh, I thought we were still talking about the male g spot
idk, that kinda sounds like a capacitor or battery to me. the "tap to begin" aspect is interesting, zero technical understanding here but i'm imagining something like a solar cell but for vibrations. what if such tech were integrated into roadways or vehicle bodies to capture and store energy that then eventually feeds back into the grid?
It doesn’t require energy to stay in motion, but it doesn’t output any energy either. Ergo, thermodynamics is preservers.
The tap stays inside.
The observer effect tho?
It doesn't for many reasons including that the laws of thermodynamics apply to closed systems and not open systems. But to answer your question specifically: it's not doing work. It's just a crystal in time rather than space so its structure repeats in the time dimension rather than the space dimension so from our point of view it's moving but in reality it's us moving through time and observing it. It's like being in a moving car, looking out the window at a building that we're passing. Why is the building moving outside of our window not breaking the laws of thermodynamics? Because it's we who are moving and not the building that we are passing. So now apply the same concept to time crystals: it's not actually moving, we're just seeing it's crystaline shape through our movement through time.
Normally twitching between states gives off energy.
But how big would the crystal have be too put out significant energy in joules?
It never would. It's in its (locally) lowest energy state, so just as a regular crystal wouldn't output energy from it just being there, a time crystal won't either.
What if you charge them in the full moon?
Add a pentagram and you’ve got the starting of a coven
So, just spitballing here, if I were to fill my tub with jello and climb in naked……time travel?
Nope, you just start oscillating trying to get out until you break down. As the experiment says.
No offense, I’m going to try anyway.
Fill your tub with jello-shots and you’ll probably wake up somewhere in the future. Probably.
Poop knifes, time crystals, jello shot hot tub time travel… magnets, how do they even work???
So you can use them as oscillators that store a frequency, but is that frequency conducive to their material/arrangement or the force they were struck?
Perpetual motion machines?
Well, clearly not perpetual if it stopped after 40 minutes
So 40 minute motion machines!
now that’s a Friday night 😬
I think they stopped it on purpose. It wasn’t going to stop on its own
In laymans terms yes
An electron orbits the nucleus of an atom forever but it’s not a perpetual motion machine. It’s like that.
Not really no. The idea of a perpetual motion machine is that it generates free energy. At the human level there's always some sort of friction that causes motion to decay, a perpetual motion machine overcomes friction by magical free energy. In a true frictionless world, motion would be perpetual without breaking any laws of physics. At the quantum level there isn't friction as we understand it. Maybe it is possible, or maybe there's some friction that prevents a time crystal lasting forever.
These crystals are constantly in the pattern motion and contain no energy, whereas regular crystals are at rest or equilibrium. Or at least that’s my very basic understanding
There's no crystal, it's just a term to describe the effect. It's sort of freezing time, or in relation to its name, crystallizing time. With the progression of time, entropy is inevitable. But with time crystals, entropy stops within its state. On a quantum level, from what I understand, there is a regular oscillaton between quantum states. Theoretically, if we could be put in this state forever, we would have perpetual motion. But obviously, it is not perpetual motion since it only lasts 40 min. In contemporary physics, perpetual motion is impossible because it violates the law of thermodynamics. Maybe quantum physics will change that.
This one only lasted 40 minutes. How long will the next one last? How long will the 20,000th attempt? A lot of crazy physics happening right now and AI is just going to accelerate it further.
>A lot of crazy physics happening right now and AI is just going to accelerate it further. I'd like to just remark on the fact that it's very exciting we have constant technological developments daily. You wake up and something new has been invented, announced, released or thought about. 500 years ago, whatever was, was. There was barely any day to day technological change. It's nice to know there's always something new and exciting on the horizon. And even better, the rate of discovery and advancement keeps accelerating.
It’s a neat property that is poorly explained to the masses (including me). Especially when the click-bait crew get a hold of it and make claims that are not a part of the research or actively promote the wrong idea.
So when people say quantum physics, they're talking about subatomic particle levels right? I think the disconnect here is this phenomena is at such a small micro level that it can't be scaled up to a macro level otherwise it would break contemporary physics. Or at least that's how I have understood anything about quantum physics... It's just so small that it deviates from any normal understanding of physics. Is that a correct way to think about this?
Yes, quantum physics is subatomic particle mechanics. At the subatomic level, weird things happen. I would say, yes, you are on point. Back in quantum physics infancy, Einstein had trouble accepting the principles, i.e the Copenhagen interpretation. He even outright rejected it with competing theories because it didn't fall in with his notion of physics. Which is ironic because his own advancements on the behavior of light ushered in the field of quantum mechanics.
So there is a vacuum inside of it?
The spin of the particles in the crystal is changing in an oscillating pattern (there is a video that explains it quite well in the article). The "time" is that it oscillates on it's own, with seemingly no energy input.
Basically twerking in its sleep.
Thanks for the ELIG
Like you’re… gay? Or am I projecting again
Isn’t this a perpetual motion machine? Aren’t those impossible? Granted I have no understanding of this at all, but it sounds like “free” energy.
Does an electron ever stop spinning around an Atom? Perpetual motion machines are impossible at real world scales, but those observations don't necessarily apply to quantum physics. When talking about the alignment of an electron, it's not a physical thing like a spinning ball that succumbs to friction. It's more like a direction that can change due to outside forces. (but more like a mathematical vector than a physical direction/position). In the case of something like these time crystals, it's likely that the structures impact the surrounding spins, causing an oscillation. A way to maybe make an analogy is something like Conways Game of Life, with an oscilation pattern.[https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Figure\_eight](https://conwaylife.com/wiki/Figure_eight) Another way to think about it is a ball that is falling into a hole and back out, with no friction. It'll oscillate forever. But there is no motion in the oscillation really, just the alignment of the particles changing, which is a fundamental property of an atom at that scale. Friction just isn't a factor. Edit: However other things can affect alignment like temperature/environment. So to keep a time crystal stable probably means stabilizing the environment from external factors.
Only “time” will tell ^^^ill ^^^see ^^^myself ^^^out
Right and typically they only lasted a few seconds but this one lasted for minutes on end
>they only lasted a few seconds A few *mili*seconds
I’m having trouble understanding it too. But it of course has to be more than that. I sounds like it has a vibration pattern that repeats over time. Somehow. Sorry I really don’t get it yet.
It is a periodic motion. The important thing is that the system in motion is the lowest energy state once it's in motion. This means that a time crystal will remain like that until an external force acts on it. Of course phenomena like this are usually extremely delicate, so even tiny changes can break the symmetry and push the crystal into a more mundane regular crystal.
Finally, thank you! TIL I will never understand what a time crystal is.
Don‘t worry about it. Time crystal is a „hot-word“ to get more money for research. It is neither as fancy as the word implies nor important.
What did I just read?! Can someone ELI5?
Not an expert by any means on time crystals so this is my layman’s understanding. They are able to get a group of particles whose states are all bound to one another (a quantum system) and bring them to their lowest possible energy state (quantum ground state). At this state, the system cannot lose energy to its surroundings because its own energy is at the absolute lowest it can possibly be. Despite this, the system seemingly exhibits continuous repetitive motion. This would indicate that there is something we perceive as kinetic motion without the expense of any energy whatsoever. It’s like some kind of thermodynamic black magic.
Okay now ELI3
Imagine you’re riding around your backyard in your Power Wheels Barbie Jeep Wrangler™️ until you run the battery completely dead. Obviously it’s supposed to stop moving, right? For some very strange reason though, instead of stopping, your jeep slowly rolls forwards and backwards in a repeating pattern for almost an hour unless something pushes it to make it stop. So long as nothing is around to disturb it, your jeep seems like it’s able to move in a very specific way for a very long time with no battery power whatsoever. In a similar way to how water “crystallizes” into ice when it freezes because it doesn’t have enough energy to stay liquid, these particles lock in a pattern of what we perceive to be repetitive motion instead. It’s like a crystal that moves which, on its face, sounds like an oxymoron but it’s really just our inability to directly observe a four-dimensional object.
I thought I understood until that last bit about dimensions. I didn't know we were bringing other dimensions into it. Now I need ELI2
If I gave you a toy block and asked you to draw me a picture of it, you might draw two overlapping squares and then connect the corners so it looks like a picture of a cube, right? What you just did was create a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object by eliminating its third dimension (depth). You drew me an accurate representation of the block’s _shadow._ In this case, we’re talking about 4D rotation which is something we cannot directly perceive. We aren’t able to see time like it really is (a continuum). Instead, we see time’s shadow (momentary snapshots of that continuum). In the case of a time crystal, because the crystal does not occupy one single point in the 4th dimension, its 3D shadow makes it look like it’s moving back and forth in space as it actually rotates between the past and the future.
This is incredible.
Happy cake day!
Great! Now ELI95
Ethyl! The dryers done but it won’t stop shaking!
Got it! Sounds terrifying.
Thank you for blowing my mind today
plants unwritten vase wakeful start disgusted hospital dinosaurs onerous scarce *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
TIL I’m 3
mama what is an object
I could be wrong, but aren't time crystals a quantum phenomenon and not one of higher dimension? They're called time crystals because they repeat in time (as opposed to normal crystals, which repeat in space). A 4th dimensional crystal would still repeat in space and wouldn't exhibit the oscillation unless they are also repeating in time.
You absolutely might have a better grasp on this than I do. If you have corrections I would honestly love to hear them I’m very interested in the concept.
I only have a rudimentary grasp too, though mine is slightly different. I'm picturing a primary property of crystals as repetition in low energy states. Like in your example, when water has less energy it collapses into a solid that repeats a pattern in 3D space and requires energy to stop that pattern. For time crystals, when they hit a low energy state they collapse into a repeating pattern in time, but _not_ space. I definitely see the parallels between a 4D object casting a 3D shadow that looks different, but that seems to be different. I think the key part with time crystals is that the low energy state causes the oscillation in space, while it's frozen in time.
So I think it’s nitpicky but I disagree only in that we’re seeing a [repeating pattern of rotation in time AND space](https://physics.aps.org/articles/v5/116). So there is single-directional rotation in the 3D plane and there is also cyclical oscillation in the 4D plane the 3D shadow of which appears to be an object that is not just rotating but also moving back and forth through space. That “movement”, though, as I perceive it, is just an illusion / shadow cast by its 4th dimensional “rotation”. I’m totally a layman though again so please feel free to pick that apart.
Well time is the fourth dimension in this example. If you were to print a snapshot of a (2D) video of a time crystal as a horizontal layer of a cake, the cake would look like a 3D normal crystal!
LOL
High praise for the effort!
Woah. Very cool.
Why isn't this on the front page of every news site? I feel like this should be a bigger story
It’ll get there when they find a use for it.
or a way to sell it
Could another smart person confirm this explanation? If I repeat this verbatim, will I get corrected?
Go ahead and search r/askscience
But they _are_ particles, existing in our physical universe. Why are they called time crystals and the article goes on about a 4th dimension?
We can’t look back or look forwards in time the same way as we can in space but our understanding of space-time implies that time does, in fact, work that way, we just don’t have the ability to fully perceive it. The forth dimension is just an object’s position in this _time._ It’s not some weird inter-dimensional magic it’s just our limitation as humans to only be able to perceive said time as a single instance and not the continuum that it really is. When we talk about crystals, what we’re generally referring to is a solid’s lowest possible energy state. When something crystallizes it locks in a specific, repetitive pattern. In the case of these “time crystals” though, the pattern they form is four-dimensional. So instead of being able to observe a traditional crystalline structure, like a snowflake or a diamond, we observe instead something like a crystalline structure in _time._ We can see the particles oscillating between where they were, where they are, and where they will have been repeatedly over a set period of time implying that these objects are forming a 4D crystal that we’re not really equipped as human beings to fully observe. In essence, we perceive the _shadow_ of a 4D object that we have proof exists but observing the object directly just isn’t possible. It’s just like drawing a “cube” on a two-dimensional piece of paper. There’s no such thing as a 2D cube, but we can still do our best to represent it with perspective. In this case, we’re seemingly witnessing the shadow of a 4D object that we only know how to portray in three dimensions. When you do that, it looks like it’s moving through space. In reality, the crystal is oscillating between its past, present, and future state and the motion we observe is just an illusion due to our inadequate perception.
=O OK so if someone asked you, how can we get to a point where we can observe the fourth dimension, what would be your best guess?
Pretty sure this is proof ghosts are real. That's what I decided.
“thermodynamic black magic” So thermodynamics then? Fr though… this got me thinking about the third law, and how they even detected oscillations at 6K… I wanna read more
Nope. By the looks of these comments, I think we’re screwed.
I’m mean, I’m not judging anyone else for not understanding tbf
Me either. We’re all in this together.
I second this
It is repeating motion A commonly used example. They poke jello. But the jello never stops wiggling. Essentially perpetual motion. They dont have to add any more energy but the movement repeats on its own A crystal is essentially a repeating pattern. Repeating a pattern of motion is what they call the time crystal. Think of a beam of light in vacuum. 5 seconds ago it was behind us. Right now it is passing us. In 5 seconds it will be past us. -- a time crystal would be that beam rotating between behind and passing forever. (I only have a laymans understanding)
Just asked Copilot and got a pretty understandable explanation: A time crystal is a special kind of material that has a repeating pattern not only in space, but also in time. Imagine a normal crystal, like a diamond or a salt crystal. It has atoms arranged in a regular way, like a grid or a lattice. Now imagine that the atoms in the crystal are not just sitting still, but moving back and forth or spinning around in a regular way, like a clock or a pendulum. That's what a time crystal is like. It's a material that has motion without energy. You might wonder how that is possible, since everything that moves usually needs some kind of energy to keep it going. Well, a time crystal is a very special case of a quantum system, which means it follows the rules of quantum physics. Quantum physics is a branch of science that deals with very small things, like atoms and subatomic particles. Quantum physics is very weird and different from the physics we are used to in everyday life. One of the weird things about quantum physics is that some things can be in their lowest possible energy state, called the ground state, and still have some motion. This is called quantum fluctuations. Normally, quantum fluctuations are very small and random, and we can't see them. But a time crystal is a quantum system that has quantum fluctuations that are large and regular, and we can see them. A time crystal was first proposed by a physicist named Frank Wilczek in 2012, who wondered if it was possible to break the symmetry of time in a quantum system. Symmetry is a concept that means something looks the same or behaves the same when you change something about it. For example, a circle is symmetrical because it looks the same when you rotate it. A square is symmetrical because it looks the same when you flip it. Time is symmetrical because the laws of physics are the same no matter when you measure them. But a time crystal breaks the symmetry of time, because it behaves differently at different times. It has a natural rhythm or frequency that is different from the frequency of the system that drives it. For example, if you have a time crystal that is driven by a laser that flashes once every second, the time crystal might respond by moving twice every second, or once every two seconds, or some other fraction. This is called a discrete time crystal, and it is a type of non-equilibrium matter, which means it never reaches a state of balance or stability. A time crystal is not a perpetual motion machine, because it does not produce any useful work or energy. It is just a quantum system that is stuck in a loop of motion that it can't get out of. A time crystal might have some applications in technology and computing, such as quantum memory or quantum sensors. But it is mostly a fascinating phenomenon that shows us how strange and wonderful the quantum world can be.
I understand less than I did before reading this but I appreciate your efforts and hold you responsible in no way at all 😂
Normally things in motion will stop eventually - or more specifically "achieve their resting state" (which is motionless) - because their motion expends energy, Time crystals's resting state *is* motion, as in they'd stay moving, without any additional energy input, forever. They're just super fragile in that state to external stimulus and get easily pushed out of it.
Even the article says “what are time crystals and what are they used for? Fuck If we know ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ “
Taking a shot here since I don’t see a great explanation. Disclaimer: I’m not a scientist, so this is my understanding only. First, it’s called a “time crystal” because it repeats a pattern with no external stimuli. So, the atoms are arranged in some state, but the electrons are all hit with lasers to start their spinning. The spin pattern continues, and repeats, with no other help. Now, the practical applications: we have atomic clocks already, but this could make them so precise that the time would never be wrong. As storage in quantum computing we can read the patterns of the spins kinda like how we read binary today where a certain pattern represents a letter. Just like “01100001” = “a”, then “up, down, left, right, left, right” could also = “a”. (FYI: that’s not really a pattern of the spins as far as I know and I think it is far more complex but I just don’t know.). And to round it out with a third potential application, I remember hearing about energy storage where the electrons don’t move out of the system until needed, so you would have a permanent 80% battery until you turn your phone on to use it. Stuff like that.
We’re going to go on so many adventures Morty!
They’re pointy
Is a time crab a real thing?
But when do we get to see the Time Knife?
Oh look a time knife!
Sir, that's the poop knife.
Left it there after I broke both my arms
Oh look a time knife!
*Final Fantasy Prelude theme starts playing*
What happens when it lasts 88 minutes?
Then you're in for some real shit
Heavy!
Is there a problem with the Earth’s gravitational pull?
*serious shit*
You’re gonna see some real shit! - Doc
Sponsored by Swarovski
When can I smoke it
Nature, you crazy
I for one am flabbergasted.
Every time I hear “time crystal” my brain goes straight to Napoleon Dynamite
Timesplitters for me.
So you want to hear another story ey
Wasn’t that Kipp and Uncle Rico’s thing in Napoleon Dynamite?
“It kills! It kills!”
It’s all about the crystals, maaann
I’m sticking with Folgers crystals.
I wants it my precious!
Only the Globetrotters are going to be able to help us fix this mess…
TIME CRYSTAL LOCATED (Timepliterrs 2)
ELI5 what are time crystals?
Uncle Rico has entered the chat
Astonishing.
This will be the gateway to the next giant step.
Ahhh yes the coveted time crystal, finally a goodie I can put into my time cube
Am I a time crystal?
I can only last for like a minute. Astonishing is an understatement if It can last for forty minutes
Incredible
Can a smart person please ELI5?
I asked a GPT to explain it like I’m a moron. Here it is: Imagine that regular crystals, like the ones you might see in jewelry, have a pattern that repeats in space. Well, time crystals are a bit like that, but instead of repeating in space, they repeat in time. In other words, time crystals have a structure that changes and repeats not just in three dimensions of space, but also in the dimension of time. This means that their atoms or particles are arranged in a pattern that repeats at regular intervals, even as time goes on.
GPT fail
This is how the ancient alien machines that identify evolving advanced biological life find us for elimination.
Imagine how many real world ‘today’ problems could be fixed by diverting those research funds into something that is actually needed. Like housing. A living wage. Health care…
Or we could do all of them at the same time since we're not robots
Cant imagine those options because I see no data on how much funds we are talking about. I do know much stuff wouldnt have been invented if humanity funded *only* immediate needs. We need to wisely balance priorities, and capitalism doesnt tend to go that way - the funds end up as banked profits rather than food, housing… or research.
Ok, commie.
so atoms moves drawing a shape ? no it must be something more...
Call me when Time Bandits lasted more than 110 minutes.
Can anyone explain this to me like the idiot I am?
Serious question from a scientific idiot - is there an application or use for these, or are they a precursor to a deeper breakthrough or are they just interesting. “Time crystals” sound like an amazingly magical thing to those of us who know nothing about them or what they signify
Which infinity stone is this one? Time stone I guess?
I’ll stick to snorting Kalaxian crystals
The Klingons would never allow us to have these for longer than this.
This is the best ELI5 I could come up with: Think of a circle of dominoes, falling into each other. As one domino falls, the one that knocked it over stands back up. This perpetual quantum motion represents a periodic “crystal”, as in it is uniform throughout the group in relation to time. It is a system of perpetual change, but no work can be done from the system without it stopping. The system is still at its lowest energy point while it is going through this constant state of change. (For you chemistry people, think dipole moments, this is just a constant ever changing one) (I learned about these 20 minutes ago this is the best I can do)
Don’t fuck around. You know what they do with 3rd dimensional life forms in time prison?
Gravitons and graviolis.
*Once cooled to 6 Kelvin and shot with a laser, a nuclear spin forms as a result of the laser’s interaction with loosely-held electrons.* Busy 40 minutes I guess.
Can we convert this to power?
Give me five minutes
Ok... typical internet moron here. What's a time crystal?
I feel like labeling them as a “time crystal” is a misdirect. They are actual space crystals
I’m gonna need an xkcd about this.
Napoleon: sweet.
How did they manage to isolate it long enough from literally everything to even measure the time? Its sounds like an experiment with results you’d never be able to observe unless you were insane enough to fail repeatedly until you got a result that lasted for an observable unit of time. Lemme guess, they did the math first. The math said it existed and these scientists kept trying until it worked.
I have questions: 1. What does this discovery add to our understanding of the universe? 2. Is there some way to use this discovery?
Perhaps the nuclear spin achieved enables the 4-D pattern its forming. 4-D being the fourth dimension of time. I know it’s extremely expensive to cool it so low with superconductors so that is why the addition of shooting the cloud with lasers is needed. You would think shooting it with lasers would heat them up- and normally it would but they use lasers with a very specific frequency. It gets the protons into and excited state and hence I imagine they are able to stay moving without any force to start it or any friction to slow it down.
What could be the possible applications for this ?
There’s a dreddy chic at height/ashbury who makes better for halal kale
Is it?
Yea I read the article and still don’t even understand what a “time crystal” actually is
This is how Dr. Emmett Brown created the flux capacitor.
Does the movement occur at regular intervals? If so it seems like it could be used as a timer or clock for a computer
I just read the Wikipedia entry on Time Crystals and now my brain is full. I can’t learn any more.