A 50-year-old theory that began as speculation about how an alien civilization could use a black hole to generate energy has been experimentally verified for the first time in a Glasgow research lab.
In 1969, British physicist Roger Penrose suggested that energy could be generated by lowering an object into the black hole's ergosphere—the outer layer of the black hole's event horizon, where an object would have to move faster than the speed of light in order to remain still.
Two years later, another physicist named Yakov Zel'dovich suggested the theory could be tested with a more practical, earthbound experiment. He proposed that "twisted" light waves, hitting the surface of a rotating metal cylinder turning at just the right speed, would end up being reflected with additional energy extracted from the cylinder's rotation thanks to a quirk of the rotational doppler effect.
Now, researchers from the University of Glasgow's School of Physics and Astronomy have finally found a way to experimentally demonstrate the effect that Penrose and Zel'dovich proposed by twisting sound instead of light—a much lower frequency source, and thus much more practical to demonstrate in the lab.
All parties were and are right without exception. :)
A possible game-changer in terms of renewable energy may be at hand. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment