There's a mysterious threshold that's predicted to exist beyond the limits of what we can see. It's called the quantum-classical transition.
If scientists were to find it, they'd be able to solve one of the most baffling questions in physics: why is it that a soccer ball or a ballet dancer both obey the Newtonian laws while the subatomic particles they're made of behave according to quantum rules? Finding the bridge between the two could usher in a new era in physics.
We don't yet know how the transition from the quantum world to the classical one occurs, but a new experiment, detailed in Physical Review Letters , might give us the opportunity to learn more.
The experiment involves cooling a cloud of rubidium atoms to the point that they become virtually motionless. Theoretically, if a cloud of atoms becomes cold enough, the wave-like (quantum) nature of the individual atoms will start to expand and overlap with one another. It's sort of like circular ripples in a pond that, as they get bigger, merge to form one large ring. This phenomenon is more commonly known as a Bose-Einstein condensate, a state of matter in which subatomic particles are chilled to near absolute zero (0 Kelvin or −273.15° C) and coalesce into a single quantum object. That quantum object is so big (compared to the individual atoms) that it's almost macroscopic—in other words, it's encroaching on the classical world.
[Also Covered By]: http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/05/atomic-telescope-brings-atoms-to-standstill/
(Score: 2) by Covalent on Sunday May 31 2015, @07:54PM
If it's a true quantum particle, it might quantum teleport to other locations within the container.
If it's a classical particle, it should fall due to gravity.
At some point we'll be able to make a BEC as big as a basketball...and then perhaps watch it suddenly disappear and reappear, 5 feet to the left.
You can't rationally argue somebody out of a position they didn't rationally get into.