Our bodies are still evolving, even when we do not do it. We cross a solar system On a wobbly planet, hold on by moving tectonic platesAnd go up and fall and throw and turn all day and all night in a symphony of autonomous and somatic functions. As dizzying as it may seem, life is still in motion, to its fundamental constituent elements – molecules.
Molecules can be considered atoms that share electrons. They form electronic links which can be visualized as springs, and they shake at a pace which corresponds to the thermal energy to which they are exposed. Although the molecules are neither alive nor dead, they keep moving, even when scientists try their fucking more to undermine them with energy. To unpack why molecules keep moving, and before we get lost in the fundamental strangeness of quantum mechanics, we must first clarify something a little simpler: what is temperature?
In daily life, windy weather report Could relax you in the bone, and a cup of tea could warm your lips. When we talk about temperature, we often do so in reference to our own level of comfort, our body thermoregulation or our climate change. But at the submicroscopic level, the temperature measures the average kinetic energy of molecules or particles in an object or a substance. The more they become hot, the more they move; Therefore, to “stop” them, we would just need to remove all their thermal energy to reach an absolute zero, or 0 Kelvin – right?
Only, “you can never really isolate a molecule of his environment,” said Justin CaramAssociate chemistry professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, in a call with Popular science. “Whether he does not strike other molecules in the air – or atoms or something else – or that he absorbs the light and the re -committing light, she always interacts with her environment.” Caram added: “You can temporarily cool things so that they move very, very, very little – and that is how we define a very low temperature, right? But by the principles of quantum mechanics, you can never completely eliminate the whole movement of the system.”
But… why?
Let’s start with a classic factor familiar in the game here: the observer effect. In this case, the simple attempt to measure the temperature of something can affect its temperature, because “the molecule can interact with other things, including the measuring device”, explained AFJ Leviprofessor of engineering, physics and astronomy at the University of Southern California, in an email in Popular science. But things become much stranger in quantum mechanics, where Principle of uncertainty Between the image, by Levi – which, by the way, called our broader question on the molecular movement “deceptfully simple”.
When we talk about how molecules move, this movement “can be separated in the center of the mass and the relative movement between atoms,” said Levi. “Because the molecule is made up of atoms linked together, at least one state linked to the lowest energy is supposed to exist (the idea that there is a lowest” fundamental state “is a very important hypothesis justified by experience).”
Levi continued: “Mathematics of quantum mechanics can be considered as the linear algebra of non-commissioning operators, which directly leads to the principle of uncertainty, which does not allow the state linked to the lowest energy of a molecule not to have a precise position and to measure precisely.
Levi’s response initially made my brain blurred, so I had a caram on the phone a second time to discuss it a little more. It was then that he offered an explanation in terms of chemistry 101 of the Heisenberg Principle of uncertainty.
“The principle of uncertainty simply says that the position and the momentum do not do it – okay, there is a mathematical term. They say that they do not make a journey. But what it really means is that you cannot measure them simultaneously.” A more precise way of putting this, by Caram, unless you do with the measure. Basically, he explained, “an object cannot have the two properties at the same time”.
This is because quantum theory tells us Everything is a waveIncluding the particles, when you look quite carefully.
While I’m starting to go existential Vagueness-party duality On the phone, Caram offers a few words of comfort: “It is only one of those fundamental strange, really overwhelming on quantum mechanics,” said Caram. “(We must) describe matter as waves. Like, it is a strange thing; It doesn’t make much sense to you or me by thinking about it, but mathematics and observations work. ”
I ask Caram if he never thinks of the constant movement that takes place in our body, the molecular and macro levels, and he tells me that he tries not to think about it. “It’s a little disturbing to think of all the things that our bodies do. Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer, except to say: I like not to think about it so much, because sometimes I worry:” What if it stops? “”
All right! Enough! Beyond the philosophical movement, the molecular movement also connects to the sometimes booty kingdom of quantum calculation.
At the UCLA, Caram said that “one of the research areas in which we work is linked to the development of molecules that move as little as possible”. He continued: “Obviously, as I said, there are limits to this – fundamental limits – but the more you slowed down these molecules and controlled their states, the more you can make quantum algorithms and make quantum computers work better.”
Although humans cannot prevent molecules from moving completely, we become well to slow them down a lot. In fact, “we have reached colder places on earth than everywhere in deep space”, according to Caram, “because the deep space is always imbued with something called microwave background, and therefore has a temperature.” (This temperature is by the way 2.7 Kelvin.)
Compare this to the coldest temperature recorded in a laboratory to date, which is 38 Kelvin trillion – or approximately -273.15 degrees Celsius. German scientists obtained this feat in 2021 for only a few seconds, when they trapped the atoms of Rubidium in a void and imitated zero gravity in a fall tower of the University of Bremen.
While humans get large to push the limits of the cold, the universe itself cools. He was “born with a given amount of energy” in all kinds of forms, “kinetics, chemical, nuclear, whatever,” said Caram, citing the Big Bang Theory and process by which things exchange heat with their environment, known as thermalization. Delivering to me, Caram said that his “very philosophical” point of view is that “in the infinite and infinite time scale, you know, as the universe develops – we will simply evolve towards a certain time when things move less and less. It was the death of the warmth of the universe, ”said Caram, who highlighted me not to worry about it, because there are really more pressing things to judge today. However, the concept that everything has spread since the “initial kick” of the big bang suggests that our lives on earth are deeply and particularly active. (Unless the universe, uh … begins markets either way.)
“What we really do is a kind of extreme fluctuation, where things move a little more to give rise to complexity” before everything collapses, “said Caram. “But it will never stop moving entirely, because, as I said, you can never really stop moving.”
This story is part of popular sciences Ask us anything seriesWhere we answer your most bizarre and burning questions, from the ordinary to the wall. Do you have something you always wanted to know? Ask.
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