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Science & Technology
monopoles found?
2009-09-04

If this is real.... it's an extremely major event for the human race
Posted by:3dc

#19  "But will they anything get me laid?"

Fixed that for ya', DV. ;-p

*ducks, runs*
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2009-09-04 21:17  

#18  Its already PRE-JETSON on the HISTORY CHANNEL, ala "UFH" = "UNIDENTIFIED FLYING HUMANS" [-noids].

JAMES BOND + TOM CRUISE [Agent IAN HUNT > MISSION IMPOSSIBLE]....
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2009-09-04 19:39  

#17  Even better with the pairs behaving like electron and electron-hole pairs on semi-conductors (what the modern world is built on) you could make magnetic devices similar to semiconductors devices but doing other types of complex stuff.
Posted by: 3dc   2009-09-04 19:28  

#16  div D = rho_e; div B = rho_m

Just don't let the streams cross.
Posted by: SteveS   2009-09-04 18:23  

#15  Thanks 3dc, that cleared up everything ...
Posted by: Steve White   2009-09-04 17:58  

#14  Even without directly seeing one, Bramwell says that he is certain that the monopoles are there. "I don't think anybody could question it after this flurry of papers," he says.

Not to debate this - heck my Physics stops at Quarks - but does this sound like a certain Ex-Vice-President's pronouncements on Globull Worming to anyone else?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2009-09-04 16:42  

#13  Countdown to a new government tax on monopoles ... 5, 4, 3, 2 ....
Posted by: Iblis   2009-09-04 16:23  

#12  more substantial, at least in my mind," says Peter Schiffer, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University

From what I've been reading (see Dr. Smolin) this is all too true with too much of physics these days. What with all these postulated entities (strings, Mbranes, dark matter and energy) for which there is zip, zero, zilch hard evidence it seems that physics is digressing to the status of mathematical parlor games.

Where is the prediction and where is the proof?
Posted by: AlanC   2009-09-04 16:06  

#11  Get in on the ground floor of the monopole revolution! It's a new world and you can be a part of it! But act fast before everyone else catches on!
Posted by: Mike N.   2009-09-04 16:02  

#10  this research seems to deal with virtual pairs similar to electron and electron-hole pairs seen in semi-conductors.
The first benefit is that the measured "forces" between the "poles" would be the same as real poles.
This gives a real number that was always just an unknown constant in Maxwell's Equations....
Now you can do a "curl" equation for magnetic factors too.

To quote a slashdot poster:
A magnetic monopole is to a magnetic field what an electron is to an electric field.

This will, amongst other things, mean that Maxwell's equations become more symmetrical.

div D = rho; div B = 0

Will become

div D = rho_e; div B = rho_m

And there will be a magnetic current term for curl H.

It's long been known that if a magnetic monopole exists then charge must be quantized.

currently looked at: div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = -@B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,
but now div B can = something.
Posted by: 3dc   2009-09-04 14:50  

#9  #3 - I got dibs on TokaMate: Your Personal Fusion Device.
Posted by: eLarson   2009-09-04 14:30  

#8  But will they get me laid?

If you have to ask..... I have bad news... :)

My question is how will this work with the Conservation of Energy?
Posted by: CrazyFool   2009-09-04 14:16  

#7  Says here (http://arxiv.org/ps/0908.3568v2) that what they are observing is "analogs of magnetic monopoles." It seems to be collective phenomena of the spin system that look like free magnetic monopoles. Not elementary particles. Fun, but no home fusion yet.
Posted by: James   2009-09-04 13:38  

#6  But will they get me laid?
Posted by: DarthVader   2009-09-04 13:31  

#5  Field strength goes up an order of magnitude. This is huge.
Posted by: mojo   2009-09-04 13:20  

#4  Argh! I knew I shouldn't have dropped those dipoles!
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2009-09-04 12:59  

#3  I want a "Mr. Fusion Home Energy Creator".
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2009-09-04 12:50  

#2  OK I work with magnetics (Alternators and starter motors)

Monopoles could easily be used for levitation, take a positive monopole and whichever way you turn it it's still positive, this means Jetson type flying belts with NO energy expenditure stay up as long as you like.
No running out of FUEL.
there's thousands of uses, but that one anyone can understand, crash less aircraft, Maglev vehicles and all without using a drop of fuel.

You can't do this with conventional Magnets because the other pole has to be damped.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2009-09-04 12:43  

#1  Fascinating stuff but I must confess I have no idea what impact, if any, this might/will have on humanity.

(Although I'm secretly hoping that a discovery like this is just one in a long series that eventually leads to the development of technology which will enable us to teleport, travel at the speed of light, time travel, or all three.)

Perhaps one of RBs resident science scholars can elaborate on the potential implications of this discovery?
Posted by: eltoroverde   2009-09-04 11:26  

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