Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigD
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. |
Thanks for the explanation - I came to a similar conclusion after reading more data on that effect. AB is a phase change then...
What to make of Einstein's box?
I can only understand the first cycle, which shows the "recoil" from the emitted particle being transferred to the cylinder (v = e/Mc); then when the particle hits the far wall the cylinder comes to rest, due to energy to matter conversion: m = E/C(squared). (Feel free to correct me - I'm still learning
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What floors me though is the reference to energy absorption on Wall B and the massless carrier required to return energy to Wall A, and the assertion that such transference will NOT result in a change of position of the cylinder.
