How To Move Particles In Solid

[rocket]

How to rearrange particles in matter?

The goal is to create a device that moves

each and every particle of a particular object to a new location

at the same time thus transforming

this object into another.(e.g., a spoon into a cup by rearranging

its molecules or one chemical element into another by rearranging

its subatomic particles(not by nuclear reaction).

What method can be used?

Maybe it can be done by using nanorobots of some kind or quantum teleportation,

or, say, tiny Einstein-Rosen Bridges

(also known as "traversable wormholes)"?

The process itself is possible since

it does not violate the laws of physics.

Any tips?

 

Note: don't start any philosophical discussions or anything like that.

Edited September 30, 2012 by rocket

[CraigD]

The goal is to create a device that moves each and every particle of a particular object to a new location at the same time thus transforming this object into another.(e.g., a spoon into a cup by rearranging its molecules or one chemical element into another by rearranging its subatomic particles(not by nuclear reaction).

 

What method can be used?

You've asked 2 distinct and fairly separate questions here, rocket:

1) how to rearrange atoms in a solid state, and

2) how to change atoms from one element to another.

 

Methods to do the first of these - rearrange atoms - vary from easy to possible in principle, but currently impractical

 

Easy:

Solid object made of a ductile material, such as iron, copper, gold, or lead, can and very routinely do have their atoms rearranged to change one object into another, without changing their physical state from solid, simply by hammering, drawing, die-extruding, and many other techniques, know collectively in metalworking as forging. Because forming objects this way can result in a stronger object than rearranging atoms by changing their state from a solid to a liquid and then back - that is, in common terms of art, melting and casting, it's common in objects such as metal tools.

 

The old aphorism "beating swords into plowshares", though usually a metaphor, is not necessarily one: one can actually, with exertion, patience, pliers, and a hammer, do this.

 

Difficult:

Though in principle nearly any object, even one made of a non-ductile material, say a wood piece, can be made into another containing the same atoms, in practice this can be impractically difficult. For example, one can in principle push individual molecules or atoms around with an atomic force microscope's or similar very fine probe. Only surface atoms can be manipulated in this way, but in principle, one could "shave" an object a single-atom thickness layer at a time, while building an entirely different one a single atom at a time.

 

Though possible in principle, at present, to the best of my knowledge, manipulating large numbers of individual atoms with a AFM is so impractically slow that it's been done only to demonstrate the technology, such as by drawing a company logo (see this famous 1990 micrograph) out of single atoms on a single-atom-thickness smooth surface (where "large number" refers to tens of atoms, rather than the on-the-order of 10²⁴ atoms in, say, a spoon or a cup).

 

Doing the second

... [change] or one chemical element into another by rearranging its subatomic particles(not by nuclear reaction).

is by definition impossible, because changing the number of nucleons in a nucleus, no matter how induced, is by definition a nuclear reaction.

 

That said, though difficult and expensive, "nuclear chemistry" is, in principle at least, fairly well-established technology. Glenn Seaborg and his lab, for example, transmuted a tiny sample of bismuth (atomic number 83, 1 greater than lead) into gold (AN 79) in 1980.

 

Maybe it can be done by using nanorobots ...

Maybe. I don't think there's a strong consensus what nanobots will or will not be able to do at any given future date. To date, none have yet been able to do anything very practical.

 

... of some kind or quantum teleportation?

I don't think what you mean by "quantum teleportation" is the same as what physicists that use the term mean. The quantum teleportation that's actually been demonstrated doesn't move or rearrange particle, but reproduces a particular quantum state in some particle or ensemble of particles in one place in another. It's this state information, or "qubit", that's being "teleported", not the particle which embodies it.

 

The kind of teleportation I believe you're imagining, rocket - "dissapearing" an single atom or sub-atomic particle from one place, and "reappearing" it in another in a well-controlled way - to the best of my knowledge has not been shown to be theoretically possible.

 

The process itself is possible since it does not violate the laws of physics.

I agree. I doubtful, however, that it will be practical, however, as technologies to, to reuse your example, make a wanted cup and discard of an unwanted spoon, will likely remain much cheaper in practically every way.

 

Any tips?

Yes: study existing "fabber" technology. Don't worry about where your feedstock is coming from, just that you can make unwanted stuff into it, and make wanted stuff out of it.

 

I believe, without being able to prove it, that this technology will revolutionize civilization withing a few decades, and that people who dedicate themselves to the hard work of learning its prerequisite skills and developing it will be among the most important technologists in history. However, I think this work, like nearly all technological work to date, will require learning current technology exceeding well and building upon it much more than ignoring or discarding it. Effective technological thinking outside the box involves questioning and discarding some current approaches, but keeping far more of them, and in either case, understanding all of them well.

 

Another tip: don't neglect the other states of matter. Liquids, gasses, and plasmas are no less important in "hard" technology than solids.

[belovelife]

well a few ideas come to mind

 

if the nano-bot had the ability to super heat an object while surrounding it so no other elements cause molecular change,

then reshaping would be in the realm of a super nano-bot

 

if this is only at the atomic level, not sub-atomic (we're not changing elements here)

 

i believe this could be done in a variety of ways according to current knowledge in physics

 

but like craigd said, would be super slow

 

if we did it large

 

like with a silver spoon

 

you could do it in a chamber flooded with an innert gas

 

then super heat the medium and use a regular sized robot to shape the object in the chamber

 

although the current 3d printing of titanium is a similar process and starts with a powder form of titanium

 

instead of a shaped object

 

i think the process of melting and reshaping would work well in space ( 0-gravity, micro-gravity )

 

because you could mold as you cool

 

but still a difficult experiment to try