Researchers at MIT have discovered a new state of matter with a new kind of magnetism. This new state, called a quantum spin liquid (QSL), could lead to significant advances in data storage. QSLs also exhibit a quantum phenomenon called long-range entanglement, which could lead to new types of communications systems, and more.
Generally, when we talk about magnetism’s role in the realm of technology, there are just two types: Ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. Ferromagnetism has been known about for centuries, and is the underlying force behind your compass’s spinning needle or the permanent bar magnets you played with at school. In ferromagnets, the spin (i.e. charge) of every electron is aligned in the same direction, causing two distinct poles. In antiferromagnets, neighboring electrons point in the opposite direction, causing the object to have zero net magnetism (pictured below). In combination with ferromagnets, antiferromagnets are used to create spin valves: the magnetic sensors used in hard drive heads. Extremetech online article Sebastian Anthony 20 December 2012, ‘MIT discovers new state of matter, a new kind of magnetism’
For decades, new-energy researchers talked about the possibility of treating a magnet so that its magnetic field would continuously shake or vibrate. On rare occasions, Sweet saw this effect, called self-oscillation, occur in electric transformers. He felt it could be coaxed into doing something useful, such as producing energy. Sweet thought that if he could find the precise way to shake or disturb a magnet’s force field, the field would continue to shake by itself. It would be similar to striking a bell and having the bell keep on ringing. Sweet – who said his ideas came to him in dreams – turned for inspiration to his expertise in magnets. He knew magnets could be used to produce electricity, and wanted to see if he could get power out of a magnet by something other than the standard induction process. What Sweet wanted to do was to keep the magnet still and just shake its magnetic field. This shaking, in turn, would create an electric current. One new-energy researcher compares self-oscillation to a leaf on a tree waving in a gentle breeze. While the breeze itself isn’t moving back and forth, it sets the leaf into that kind of motion. Sweet thought that if cosmic energy could be captured to serve as the breeze, then the magnetic field would serve as the leaf. Sweet would just have to supply a small amount of energy to set the magnetic field in motion, and space energy would keep it moving. Testy McTesterson, ‘Breakthrough Power: How Quantum-Leap New Energy Inventions Can Transform Our World’
Magnetic lines of force convey a far better and purer idea than the phrase magnetic current or magnetic flood: it avoids the assumption of a current or of two currents and also of fluids or a fluid, yet conveys a full and useful pictorial idea to the mind. Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday, the father of electricity ... conducted most of his experiments into magnetism and electricity here at the Royal Institution. And his practical demonstrations to a distinguished audience of fellow scientists and enthusiastic VIPs were the talk of the town. Mark Williams, Industrial Revelations s2e7: Bright Sparks, Discovery 2005
The blueprint of the universe is drawn with magnetic lines. Magnetic fields help stars ignite, they shape entire galaxies, and the same force that creates magnetism is the cement that holds all matter together. How the Universe Works s4e8: Forces of Mass Construction, Discovery 2015
The force is known as electromagnetism. Electromagnetism also sticks atoms together to form molecules. And it sticks the molecules together to form us and everything around us. ibid.
A blast from a magnetar could blow our atmosphere into space … Earth would become a lifeless ball of rock. ibid.
Charged particles in gas clouds within the galaxy are directed along the spiral arms by magnetic fields. Here the gas clouds are denser allowing star formation to take place. ibid.
To construct a star you also need magnetism … The swirling gas and the forming star and its surrounding disc generate powerful magnetic fields. How the Universe Works s5e1: Most Amazing Discoveries, Discovery 2016
The core of the star crushes inward supercharging its magnetism. ibid.
The super-element in these magnets is called Neodymium: it makes the strongest permanent magnets known. Mark Miodownik, Secrets of the Super Elements ***** BBC 2018
This dramatized program is inspired by an actual 1972 document entitled The 12 Devil’s Graveyards Around the World. The Devil’s Graveyards: Vile Vortices Revealed, History 2020, caption
Dr Joseph Spencer, biologist: As we travelled further, the dog started … The dog went mad. Why? Why this desert? Why are there no animals, no insects, nothing? It’s unheard of in biology. ibid.
This area of the Algerian desert is known locally as La Zona Morta ... It’s a thousand-square-mile area where there’s hardly life as far back as human record exist. Local tribesmen will tell you that animals don’t live here, and the animals that accidentally enter almost always die trying to escape. ibid. commentary
Here in Algeria all around there’s these unusual events: in Adrar swarms of locusts were showing up regularly [80 km inside the Zone of Death]; in Quargla various species of birds were becoming physically unable to fly and died … large flocks of birds falling from the sky, fish are dying in record numbers, insects are showing up in territories where they’ve never been seen before. But there’s a pattern. ibid. Spencer
We checked for radon, CO2, methane: nothing … Magnetism was a possibility … Out here there are wild fluctuations … huge wave of pulsating magnetic energy everywhere, because all animals can sense magnetic fields. ibid.
There’s not only one Vortex, there were more than one: it had already been discovered: Bio-Vortices. ibid.
Ivan T Sanderson: educated at Cambridge University, Sanderson founded the Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained. ibid. commentary
The Indian Ocean vortex … The vessels that went missing were concentrated to twelve places on the globe: there were four vortices in the Pacific, the west-Pacific vortex just off the coast of Japan, the South Pacific vortex off the coast of New Zealand, the Pacific vortex near Hawaii as well as the Easter Island vortex just west of South America. Then perhaps there is the most infamous vortex: the Bermuda Triangle. ibid.
It seemed these vortices not only impacted animals and machinery, but their awesome power impacts the world’s weather patterns as well. ibid.
It has to do with the Earth’s magnetics … It wasn’t until I started researching the vortices at the poles that I realised my suspicions were confirmed. ibid. Spencer
Just beneath the surface he found a blue-coloured substance. Running a geiger-counter over it Dr Spencer found the topsoil had unusually high levels of radiation, just like at the South Pole … What was causing the radiation? … The aluminium isotope [26] they are finding on the Earth’s surface and that is abundance at all the vile vortices is somehow reacting with the metal at the Earth’s core to create these magnetic anomalies. ibid.
It’s a GPS system, a way to achieve global positioning … These vortexes post a serious threat to all life on Earth. ibid.
Each vortex appears to be a thousands square miles. ibid.
Hawaii: the United States government had unknowingly wiped out one of the twelve positions that was putting a drag on the world’s rotation. ibid.
Experiment: These capacitors are loaded with power; when we drop those switches, the power’s going to hit here – boom – the protons are going to shoot into the ground and zap isotope 26 rendering harmless aluminium oxide. ibid.