Science Discovers Method Of Turning Light Into Matter

[thiosk]

So, how long until we develop the technology to convert light into cookies?

we've already got it

http://orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/
http://cookieclicker.wikia.com/wiki/Prism

 

[Charli]

....Witchcraft.


No seriously that is some wacky ass science. I love it.
Keep on trucking you mad geniuses I will never be half as talented.

 

[Joseph Alexander]

When they manage to create a machine that can make actual objects out of light, I hope the first thing they make with it is a sword.

A Light Saber!

already got that: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/167439-mit-and-harvard-create-new-lightsaber-like-state-of-matter-photonic-molecules

its less lightsaber and more photonic-matter ala the holo-deck from star trek.

 

[Joseph Alexander]

Create stuff from energy? Erm... Unless I'm mistaken, would that not remove mineral scarcity (if they had a mass producible method)? Which would piss a LOT of people who like making money right off initially. So I'd expect any progress to either get buried or someone to buy the inevitable patent and burry it.

unlikely, it'd be more likely that industry will shift to energy production and storage.

and given last years discovery about the laws thermodynamics and how kelvin loops with the kind of logic found in videogames(5 - 20= 999984 as example).
i think we may have just thrown the laws of conservation of mass and energy out the window, at least when it comes to their creation.

 

[Strazdas]

Whats the news here?
The method has been "discovered" 80 years ago as the article states. and the experiments havent even begun construction of appratus so theres nothing new there either. so whats exactly new here?

We may never have a "energy to matter" converter like in trek, but I think we may see a day where there is a machine which functions by putting a lump of mass, maybe rock or a block of dirt, and it will convert it to something else. No idea if that's even possible, but a guy can dream.

If we learn how to break molecules apart and rearange atoms at will then this is very much possible. alas so far we are limited to chemistry aranging of atoms.

I saw a diagram once that fully converting a pea sized sphere of uranium would generate the same amount of energy as burning 100 tons of wood. So creating that pea sized sphere of uranium from energy should take the same amount of energy.

your comparing Uranium to Wood. Creating Uranium would take that. But Uranium is one of the heaviest elements we know. Now creating a ton of wood would take 100 times less. and we have A LOT of wasted energy, what with all of the sunlight that gets wasted and mirrored back into space?

Create stuff from energy? Erm... Unless I'm mistaken, would that not remove mineral scarcity (if they had a mass producible method)? Which would piss a LOT of people who like making money right off initially. So I'd expect any progress to either get buried or someone to buy the inevitable patent and burry it.

your avatar is perfect for this post. Excellent.

 

[Pinkamena]

Create stuff from energy? Erm... Unless I'm mistaken, would that not remove mineral scarcity (if they had a mass producible method)? Which would piss a LOT of people who like making money right off initially. So I'd expect any progress to either get buried or someone to buy the inevitable patent and burry it.

The amount of matter that will be created from this process will be absolutely miniscule. To create even a single gram of matter will take a horrendous amount of energy, way way way more than it will take to simply mine it out of the ground, or recycle it.

 

[Denamic]

Imagine a 3D printer that uses lasers to create matter. My pants shrink just thinking about it. Will probably never be viable, at least not in our lifetime, but the fact that it's not impossible is awesome.

 

[Qvar]

SO if I have understood this correctly... It's like making a reverse fire?

 

[twm1709]

Man, Green Lantern is gonna go all hipster on us now...

 

[Aikayai]

I guess it makes sense. Making a proton and an electron from a waveform had to start somewhere or we wouldn't have hydrogen for stars, which wouldn't make the other elements, which wouldn't make us. Who'd have thought that going back to building a star for power we'd find what made the star in the first place? I guess it also means that with enough technology providing you get a 1-1 reaction you could prevent the heat death of the universe, which would be by far the most awesome thing humans could do.

 

[GabeZhul]

This... has absolutely nothing to do with replicators or even creating "matter", really. This is just the same photoelectric effect that good ol' Einstein got his Nobel Prize for in 1921, except they are colliding two high-energy proton beams to create the photon pair production effect instead of hitting a nucleus with a photon beam, which I suppose is still somewhat new and--

This new experiment, on the other hand, suggests a far more direct route: Firing powerful lasers at a gold vessel to turn photons into electrons and positrons.

...
What...? So... you say that this new experiment showed them that they should stop doing this new experiment and get back to doing the experiment the old way? Why the freaking fruity fudgeball-furniture is this in the news again?!

What's next?
"US army created the first shark-cannon! Experts say the new weapon shows great future promise! To quote the project leader: We just have to figure out how to replace the shark with explosive warheads and we are good to go!"