Larger structure affected by quantum mechanics

2001/05/28 Roa Zubia, Guillermo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Fisika

One of the most characteristic areas of physics, quantum mechanics, is the one that most influences the behavior of particles. The nature and movement of all particles smaller than the atom and atom can only be studied by applying quantum physics.

One of the principles of quantum mechanics indicates that it is not possible to measure the position and speed of a particle at once. This statement entails a number of philosophical problems. In fact, since the time when quantum mechanics developed, numerous opinions have been issued for and against.

However, this effect and similar ones disappear into large structures. Now, the Austrian physicist Anton Zeilinger has declared that the influence limit of quantum mechanics is in molecules larger than expected. In his opinion, being able to see the effects of quantum physics on large structures is only a matter of skill and money.

Zeilinger has studied a fulerene (ball molecule) made up of sixty carbon atoms. A beam of these molecules impersonated a slot that can be expanded and decreased. A laser sensor tried to measure the speed of the molecules while crossing the slot. The smaller the slot, the more changing the moment, the speed, the molecules measured at that time.

Undoubtedly, this is a consequence of quantum theory. In addition, it can be experimented with other larger molecules, progressively increasing their size. The size limit, therefore, is not fully defined in quantum mechanics.