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| {{Unreferenced|date=May 2009}} | | '''''Physics of the Impossible''': A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel'' is a 2008 book by [[physics|physicist]] [[Michio Kaku]], who has a [[Ph.D.]] in [[theoretical physics]]. Kaku uses discussion of speculative technologies to educate the reader in lessons of fundamental [[physics]]. The topic of invisibility becomes a discussion on the reason the [[speed of light]] is slower in water than a vacuum, that [[electromagnetism]] occurs in waves like ripples on a pond, and a discussion on the use of newly-developed [[composite material]]s. The topic of hand-held lasers, or [[Star Trek]] “phasers”, become lessons on how today’s [[laser]]s work and how the current research in the technology is done. With each discussion of science fiction technology topics he also “explains the hurdles to realizing these [[science fiction]] concepts as reality."<ref name="NYT" >{{cite journal |
| {{Notability|Books|date=August 2008}}
| | |journal=New York Times |
| {{Wikify|date=May 2009}} | | |title=Paper Cuts : Why Don’t We Invent It Tomorrow? |
| | |url=http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/why-dont-we-invent-it-tomorrow/ |
| | }}</ref><ref name="urlPhysics Book Review - Physics of the Impossible - a review of Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku">{{cite web |url=http://physics.about.com/od/physicsbooks/gr/impossphysics.htm |title=Physics Book Review - Physics of the Impossible - a review of Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku |format= |work= |accessdate=2009-06-03}}</ref> |
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| '''''Physics of the Impossible''': A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel'' is a 2008 book by [[physics|physicist]] [[Michio Kaku]], who has a [[Ph.D.]] in [[theoretical physics]], He is a professor of theoretical physics at the Graduate Center of the [[City University of New York]], and is a cofounder of [[string field theory]].
| | ==Contents== |
| Dr. Kaku uses discussion of far-out, science fiction, technologies to educate the interested reader in lessons of fundamental physics. The topic of invisibility becomes a discussion on the reason the speed of light is slower in water than a vacuum, that electromagnetism occurs in waves like ripples on a pond, and a discussion on the use of newly developed composite materials. The topic of hand held lasers, or Star Trek “phasers”, become lessons on how today’s lasers work and how the current research in the technology is done. With each discussion of science fiction technology topics he also “explains the hurdles to realizing these science fiction concepts as reality."
| | Each chapter states the technology mentioned and how it might become a reality, although chapters become somewhat more general towards the end of the book due to lack of research. Some of the technologies mentioned are explained as per a slightly altered form, which remains as true to the original concept as possible while remaining practical.<ref>"Kaku, Physics of the Impossible", Preface p. xvii</ref> Kaku concludes his book with a short epilogue detailing the newest frontiers in physics and how there is still much more to be learned about physics and our universe.<ref name="Kaku, Physics of the Impossible" >{{cite book |
| <ref>New York Times. "Paper Cuts":"Why Don’t We Invent It Tomorrow?" [http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/why-dont-we-invent-it-tomorrow/]</ref><ref>About.com:Physics section - Physics book review. ''"Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku"'' aritcle by Andrew Zimmerman Jones [http://physics.about.com/od/physicsbooks/gr/impossphysics.htm]</ref> | | |last=Kaku |first=Michio |
| | | |title=Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel |
| <p> The section on ''Inivisibility'', below, is constructed from reliable sources other than book, and they are referenced with in line citations. ''Invisibility'' is the title and topic of Chapter 2 in "Physics of the impossible". I have paralleled this section with the discussion in the book, but other sources are used.<ref>New York Times. "Paper Cuts":"Why Don’t We Invent It Tomorrow?" [http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/why-dont-we-invent-it-tomorrow/]</ref><ref> Office of News & Communications Duke University. "First Demonstration of a Working Invisibility Cloak" [http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2006/10/cloakdemo.html]</ref><ref>Duke Engineering news release "First Demonstration of a Working Invisibility Cloak" [http://www.pratt.duke.edu/news/?id=792]</ref>
| | |location=New York |
| | |publisher=Doubleday |
| | |year=2008 |
| | |ref=Kaku, Physics of the Impossible |
| | |isbn=978-0-385-52069-0 |
| | }}</ref> |
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| | ==The Concept of Impossibility== |
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| ==Contents== | | According to Kaku, 150 years ago, technological advances that we take for granted today were declared impossible. [[Lord Kelvin|William Thomson Kelvin]] (1824 – 1907) , a [[mathematical physicist]] and inventor of the [[Kelvin scale]] said publicly that “heavier than air” machines were impossible. “He thought [[X-rays]] were a hoax, and that [[radio]] had no future.”<ref name="Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, pref" >[[#Kaku, Physics of the Impossible|Kaku, Physics of the Impossible]], Preface pp. x - xiii</ref> |
| Each chapter states the technology mentioned and how it might become a reality, although chapters become somewhat more general towards the end of the book due to lack of research. Some of the technologies mentioned are explained as per a slightly altered form, which remains as true to the original concept as possible while remaining practical.{{Fact|date=May 2009}} Kaku concludes his book with a short epilogue detailing the newest frontiers in physics and how there is still much more to be learned about physics and our universe.<ref> Kaku, Michio. ''Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel''. New York. Doubleday. 2008.</ref>
| | [[Ernest Rutherford]] (1871 – 1937), a physicist who experimentally described the atom, thought the [[atom bomb]] was impossible and he compared it to [[moonshine]]. Televisions, computers, and the [[internet]] would seem incredibly fantastic to the people of the turn of the [[20th century]]. Black holes were considered science fiction and even [[Einstein]] showed that [[black holes]] could not exist. [[19th century]] science had determined that it was impossible for [[Age of the Earth|the earth to be billions of years old]]. Even in the [[1920]]’s and 1930’s [[Robert Goddard]] was scoffed at because it was believed that rockets would never be able to [[Space exploration|go into space]].<ref name="Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, pref" /> |
| | Such advances were considered impossible because the basic laws of physics and science were not understood as they are understood today. Kaku states that “as a physicist [he] learned that the impossible is often a relative term.” By this definition of "impossible," he poses the question – is it not plausible to think that we might someday build space ships that can travel distances of [[light years]], or think that we might [[teleport]] ourselves from one place to the other?<ref name="Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, pref" /> |
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| == Preface == | | ==Physical limits of technology== |
| In the preface of the book, Kaku writes that 150 years ago technological advances, that we take for granted today, were declared impossible. [[Lord Kelvin|William Thomson Kelvin]] (1824 – 1907) , a [[mathematical physicist]] and inventor of the [[Kelvin scale]] said publicly that “heavier than air” machines were impossible. “He thought [[X-rays]] were a hoax, and that [[radio]] had no future.”<ref> Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. New York. Doubleday. 2008. Preface pages x to xiii</ref>
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| [[Ernest Rutherford]] (1871 – 1937), a famous physicist who experimentally described the atom, thought the atom bomb was impossible and he compared it to moonshine. Televisions, computers, and the [[internet]] would seem incredibly fanstastic to the people of the turn of the 20th century. [[Black holes]] were considered science fiction and even [[Einstein]] showed that black holes could not exist. 19th century science had determined that it was impossible for [[Age of the Earth|the earth to be billions of years old]]. Even in the 1920’s and 1930’s [[Robert Goddard]] was scoffed at because it was believed that rockets would never be able to [[Space exploration|go into space]]. <ref> Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. New York. Doubleday. 2008. Preface pages x to xiii </ref>
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| Such advances were considered impossible because the basic laws of physics and science were not understood as they are understood today. Kaku states that “as a physicist he learned that the impossible is often a relative term.” So, he asks the questions – isn’t it possible to think that we might build space ships that can travel distances of light years, or think that we might teleport ourselves from one place to the other? <ref> Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. New York. Doubleday. 2008. Preface pages x to xiii</ref>
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| Kaku writes that since scientists understand the basic laws of [[physics]] today they are able to percieve or imagine a basic outline of [[Futurology|future technologies]] that might work. Kaku writes: "Physicist today understand the basic laws [of physics] extending over a staggering forty three orders of magnitude, from the interior of the proton out to the expanding universe." <ref> Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. New York. Doubleday. 2008. Preface page xviii </ref> | | Kaku writes that since scientists understand the basic laws of [[physics]] today they are able to perceive or imagine a basic outline of [[Futurology|future technologies]] that might work. Kaku writes: "Physicists today understand the basic laws [of physics] extending over a staggering forty three orders of magnitude, from the interior of the proton out to the expanding universe."<ref name="Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, pref xviii" >[[#Kaku, Physics of the Impossible|Kaku, Physics of the Impossible]], Preface p.xviii</ref> |
| He goes on to say that physicists can discern between future technologies that are merely improbable and those technologies that are truly impossible. He uses a system of Class I, Class II, and Class III to classify these science-fictional future technologies that are believed to be impossible today: | | He goes on to say that physicists can discern between future technologies that are merely improbable and those technologies that are truly impossible. He uses a system of Class I, Class II, and Class III to classify these science-fictional future technologies that are believed to be impossible today: |
| *Class I Impossibilities “technologies that are impossible today, but that do not violate the known laws of physics. So they might be possible in this century or the next, in modified form.” <ref> Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. New York. Doubleday. 2008. Preface page xviii </ref> | | *Class I Impossibilities are "technologies that are impossible today, but that do not violate the known laws of physics." Kaku speculates that these technologies may become available in some limited form in a century or two.<ref name="Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, pref xviii" /> |
| *Class II Impossibilities “technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world. They might be realized on a scale of millennia to millions of years in the future" <ref> Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. New York. Doubleday. 2008. Preface page xvii </ref> | | *Class II Impossibilities are “technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world," possibly taking thousands or millions of years to become available.<ref name="Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, pref xvii" >[[#Kaku, Physics of the Impossible|Kaku, Physics of the Impossible]], Preface p.xvii</ref> |
| *Class III Impossibilities “technologies that violate the known laws of physics. Surprisingly, there are very few such impossible technologies. If they do turn out to be possible, they would represent a fundamental shift in our understanding of physics” <ref> Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. New York. Doubleday. 2008. Preface page xvii </ref> | | *Class III Impossibilities are “technologies that violate the known laws of physics." Kaku only lists a few of these. Development of these technologies would represent a fundamental shift in human understanding of physics.<ref name="Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, pref xvii" /><ref name="urlPhysics of the Impossible, By Michio Kaku - Reviews, Books - The Independent">{{cite web |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/physics-of-the-impossible-by-michio-kaku-859665.html |title=Physics of the Impossible, By Michio Kaku - Reviews, Books - The Independent |format= |work= |accessdate=2009-06-03}}</ref> |
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| == Press coverage == | |
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| Michio Kaku, the author of this book, was interviewed about ''The Physics of the Impossible'' for "[[Paper Cuts]]", a section of the ''[[New York Times]]'' online. According to the article's authors, Kaku spoke to them about "three theoretical technologies that fall within the realm of possibility."<ref>[''New York Times''. "Paper Cuts":"Why Don’t We Invent It Tomorrow?" [http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/why-dont-we-invent-it-tomorrow/]</ref>
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| == Invisibility ==
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| [[Cloaking device|Invisibility]], the topic explored in Chapter 2 of this book, is actually being tested in the lab by today's scientists. It is the science of an "invisible cloak ". Of course, at this time, this science is in the very beginning stages and is only a few years old. According to an article in Science Daily (online), the core concept behind invisibility is twofold. First, no light can reflect off the object, and, second, "the light must bend around the object so that people would see only the background and not the cloaked object itself."<ref>[ScienceDaily. April 2, 2007. ''"Engineers Create 'Optical Cloaking' Design For Invisibility"'' [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070402141206.htm]</ref><ref>Office of News & Communications Duke University. ''"First Demonstration of a Working Invisibility Cloak"'' [http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2006/10/cloakdemo.html]</ref><p>
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| {{multiple image | |
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| | header = Simulation of how a cloaking device would work
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| | image1 = Cloaking device simulation (inactive).jpg
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| | caption1 = Cloaking device deactivated: Light is reflected and absorbed by the object, causing it to be visible.
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| | image2 = Cloaking device simulation (active).jpg
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| | caption2 = Cloaking device active: Light is deflected around the object, causing it to be invisible.
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| The first demonstrations of a working invisibility cloak occured at [[Duke University]]. This was announced in the Office of News & Communications Duke University newspaper on October 19, 2006. According to the article,"A team led by scientists at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering has demonstrated the first working "invisibility cloak." The cloak deflects microwave beams so they flow around a "hidden" object inside with little distortion, making it appear almost as if nothing were there at all." This event was also reported by the Duke Engineering team to Science Express,on the same day, which is the advance online publication of the [[peer reviewed]] journal ''[[Science (journal)|Science]]''.<ref>Office of News & Communications [[Duke University]]. ''"First Demonstration of a Working Invisibility Cloak"'' [http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2006/10/cloakdemo.html]</ref><p>
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| A concurrent news release by the Duke University Engineering Department noted the use of the new [[metamaterials]] to achieve this first step for an [[Cloaking device|Invisibility]] cloak. These are exotic [[composite]] materials not found anywhere in nature. According to the article, "The researchers manufactured the cloak using "metamaterials" arranged in a series of concentric circles", which produce specific electro-magnetic waves. "Metamaterials are artificial composites" that are made to "interact with electromagnetic waves in ways that natural materials" cannot. <ref>Duke Engineering news release ''"First Demonstration of a Working Invisibility Cloak"'' http://www.pratt.duke.edu/news/?id=792</ref><p>
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| Earlier attempts to create a cloak for objects was to limit the electro-magnetic reflection bouncing off the object, or create the object in such a way that the object cancels the electro-magnetic waves. Of course, this would end up limiting the cloak effect to specific objects. This demonstration shows that with the metamaterials there is the possiblity to conceal any object.<ref>Duke Engineering news release ''"First Demonstration of a Working Invisibility Cloak"'' [http://www.pratt.duke.edu/news/?id=792]</ref> <p>
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| The Duke University demonstration experiments were also discussed in Chapter 2 of this book and, therefore, connects the topic to the "hard" science being practiced today. In the "Paper Cuts" interview, of the New York Times, Kaku says, "I think within 10 years, we’ll get it so that we can get a large object — something that you can put in your hand — to become invisible to one frequency of visible light. The Harry Potter cloak, of course, is much more difficult." ''Invisibilty'' is classified as a Class I impossibility.<ref>New York Times. [[Paper Cuts]]. March 13, 2008 '' "Why Don’t We Invent It Tomorrow?"'' [http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/why-dont-we-invent-it-tomorrow/]</ref>
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| According to the Duke University Engineering Department news release an important result was achieved, "'By incorporating complex material properties, our cloak allows a concealed volume, plus the cloak, to appear to have properties similar to free space when viewed externally,' said David R. Smith, Augustine Scholar and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. 'The cloak reduces both an object's reflection and its shadow, either of which would enable its detection.'"<ref>Duke Engineering news release ''"First Demonstration of a Working Invisibility Cloak"'' [http://www.pratt.duke.edu/news/?id=792]</ref> <p>
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| This technology advances incrementally, starting with, again, the Duke University demonstrations, in 2006, with invisiblity in the microwave range. Then, in April, 2007 Purdue University engineers used nanotechnology to theoretically render an object invisible in the light wavelengh of 632.8 nanometers, or more simply, the color red as seen with ordinary eyesight.<ref>Science News. ''"Engineers Create 'Optical Cloaking' Design For Invisibility"''http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070402141206.htm</ref><p>
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| In 2009 at Duke University the latest advance - a series of alogarithms were developed, to guide the design and fabrication of new metamaterials. David Smith of the Duke Engineering department (also quoted in Chapter 2 of this book) - comparing the 2006 device, says, "“The difference between the original device and the latest model is like night and day,” Smith said. “The new device can cloak a much wider spectrum of waves — nearly limitless — and will scale far more easily to infrared and visible light. The approach we used should help us expand and improve our abilities to cloak different types of waves.” The article also noted that "once the algorithm was developed, the latest cloaking device was completed from conception to fabrication in nine days, compared to the four months required to create the original, and more rudimentary, device."<ref>Office of News & Communications Duke University.
| | == See also == |
| ''"Next Generation Cloaking Device Demonstrated Metamaterial renders object 'invisible'"''
| | * [[The Physics of Star Trek]], a similar book by the physicist [[Lawrence M. Krauss]] |
| http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2009/01/invis09.html</ref>
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| ==References== | | ==References== |
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| ==External links== | | ==External links== |
| *[http://www.mkaku.org/ Kaku's personal website] | | *[http://www.mkaku.org/ Kaku's personal website] |
| | *[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/physics-of-the-impossible-by-michio-kaku-859665.html Review in The Independent] |
| | *[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19726452.200-review-iphysics-of-the-impossiblei-by-michio-kaku.html Review in NewScientist.com] |
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| [[Category:2008 books]] | | [[Category:2008 books]] |
| [[Category:Popular science books]] | | [[Category:Popular science books]] |
Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel is a 2008 book by physicist Michio Kaku, who has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. Kaku uses discussion of speculative technologies to educate the reader in lessons of fundamental physics. The topic of invisibility becomes a discussion on the reason the speed of light is slower in water than a vacuum, that electromagnetism occurs in waves like ripples on a pond, and a discussion on the use of newly-developed composite materials. The topic of hand-held lasers, or Star Trek “phasers”, become lessons on how today’s lasers work and how the current research in the technology is done. With each discussion of science fiction technology topics he also “explains the hurdles to realizing these science fiction concepts as reality."[1][2]
Contents
Each chapter states the technology mentioned and how it might become a reality, although chapters become somewhat more general towards the end of the book due to lack of research. Some of the technologies mentioned are explained as per a slightly altered form, which remains as true to the original concept as possible while remaining practical.[3] Kaku concludes his book with a short epilogue detailing the newest frontiers in physics and how there is still much more to be learned about physics and our universe.[4]
The Concept of Impossibility
According to Kaku, 150 years ago, technological advances that we take for granted today were declared impossible. William Thomson Kelvin (1824 – 1907) , a mathematical physicist and inventor of the Kelvin scale said publicly that “heavier than air” machines were impossible. “He thought X-rays were a hoax, and that radio had no future.”[5]
Ernest Rutherford (1871 – 1937), a physicist who experimentally described the atom, thought the atom bomb was impossible and he compared it to moonshine. Televisions, computers, and the internet would seem incredibly fantastic to the people of the turn of the 20th century. Black holes were considered science fiction and even Einstein showed that black holes could not exist. 19th century science had determined that it was impossible for the earth to be billions of years old. Even in the 1920’s and 1930’s Robert Goddard was scoffed at because it was believed that rockets would never be able to go into space.[5]
Such advances were considered impossible because the basic laws of physics and science were not understood as they are understood today. Kaku states that “as a physicist [he] learned that the impossible is often a relative term.” By this definition of "impossible," he poses the question – is it not plausible to think that we might someday build space ships that can travel distances of light years, or think that we might teleport ourselves from one place to the other?[5]
Physical limits of technology
Kaku writes that since scientists understand the basic laws of physics today they are able to perceive or imagine a basic outline of future technologies that might work. Kaku writes: "Physicists today understand the basic laws [of physics] extending over a staggering forty three orders of magnitude, from the interior of the proton out to the expanding universe."[6]
He goes on to say that physicists can discern between future technologies that are merely improbable and those technologies that are truly impossible. He uses a system of Class I, Class II, and Class III to classify these science-fictional future technologies that are believed to be impossible today:
- Class I Impossibilities are "technologies that are impossible today, but that do not violate the known laws of physics." Kaku speculates that these technologies may become available in some limited form in a century or two.[6]
- Class II Impossibilities are “technologies that sit at the very edge of our understanding of the physical world," possibly taking thousands or millions of years to become available.[7]
- Class III Impossibilities are “technologies that violate the known laws of physics." Kaku only lists a few of these. Development of these technologies would represent a fundamental shift in human understanding of physics.[7][8]
See also
References
- ↑ "Paper Cuts : Why Don’t We Invent It Tomorrow?". New York Times. http://papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/why-dont-we-invent-it-tomorrow/.
- ↑ "Physics Book Review - Physics of the Impossible - a review of Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku". http://physics.about.com/od/physicsbooks/gr/impossphysics.htm. Retrieved on 2009-06-03.
- ↑ "Kaku, Physics of the Impossible", Preface p. xvii
- ↑ Kaku, Michio (2008). Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-52069-0.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, Preface pp. x - xiii
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, Preface p.xviii
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kaku, Physics of the Impossible, Preface p.xvii
- ↑ "Physics of the Impossible, By Michio Kaku - Reviews, Books - The Independent". http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/physics-of-the-impossible-by-michio-kaku-859665.html. Retrieved on 2009-06-03.
External links
