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Originally Posted by wade_b
What about this (from physorg.com)
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One of the interesting phenomena present in quantum mechanics is the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect. The AB effect predicts that a charged particle, usually an electron in experiments, shows effects from electromagnetic fields in regions where the particle is excluded. This leads to the interesting fact that, in electromagnetism, Newton’s Third Law of Motion doesn’t always hold true.
Herman Batelaan explains …
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Caprez, Barwick, and Batelaan’s 8/17/07
“A macroscopic test of the Aharonov-Bohm effect” describes an experiment that further confirms that the quantum waves of an electrons in a stream, which are predicted to be affected in the absence of an interaction analogous to classical electromagnetic force, are not actually being affected by an unexpected interaction analogous to a classical electromagnetic force.
What is changed by the AB effect is the phase of electrons’ waves, resulting in a detectable change in the interference pattern produced by passing a stream of electrons through two slits – the famous two-slit experiment. Their masses and velocities are unaffected. Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion describes forces, masses, and velocities, not the wave nature of particles, I think the tagline “in electromagnetism, Newton’s Third Law of Motion doesn’t always hold true”, while catchy, isn’t accurate. It plays on different uses of the word “reaction”: in classical physics, where reactions are changes in momenta, vs. in quantum physics, where “reaction” can be a rarely-used synonym for “interaction”, which can involve changes other than to momenta The word “reaction” appears nowhere in Caprez, Barwick, and Batelaan’s paper.
The AB effect expressly doesn’t change momenta, so I can see no way that it can be used for propulsion.
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