Scientists closer to finding quantum gravity theory after measuring gravity on microscopic level (research paper near the bottom)

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-scientists-closer-quantum-gravity-theory.html

87 points · 6 comments · view on lemmy.world

6 Comments

threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 2y (5 replies)

Their study used a sophisticated setup involving superconducting devices, known as traps, with magnetic fields, sensitive detectors and advanced vibration isolation. It measured a weak pull, just 30aN, on a tiny particle 0.43mg in size by levitating it in freezing temperatures a hundredth of a degree above absolute zero—about –273 degrees Celsius.

Good god, this sounds like a difficult experiment to pull off. Thirty atto-Newtons. You don't hear atto-anything very often.

Dicska@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2y (3 replies)

One attoparsec is about 3cm.

threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 2y (1 reply)

No one uses attoparsecs any more than they use beard-seconds or Hubble-barns.

Dicska@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y

You made me look these up and they are hilarious. Thanks for making my day! Here are a few more on the same page, along with beard-seconds and Hubble-barns.

Num10ck@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2y

as a rule of thumb: the diameter of a banana is about one attoparsec. the length of a banana is about one banana, for scale.

niktemadur@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y

You don't hear atto-anything very often.

But more and more often now, the previous Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to a team that produced laser pulses with duration measured in atto-seconds.