“So why can’t you use quantum tunneling to walk through a wall? Quantum mechanical calculations show that for something as big as a person, the probability is so small that you could wait until the end of the universe and most likely still not find yourself on the other side…”

 

Still, there’s a chance! They’ve proven quantum tunneling (AKA walking through walls) at the quantum level, and are now working on experiments with larger objects, so perhaps it’s just a matter of time before we’re all impersonating ghosts?

 

Walk-Through-Wall Effect Might Be Possible With Humanmade Object, Physicists Predict

by Nathan Collins

 

If you’ve ever tried the experiment, you know you can’t walk through a wall. But subatomic particles can pull off similar feats through a weird process called quantum tunneling. Now, a team of physicists says that it might just be possible to observe such tunneling with a larger, humanmade object, though others say the proposal faces major challenges.

 

If successful, the experiment would be a striking advance toward fashioning mechanical systems that behave quantum mechanically. In 2010, physicists took a key first step in that direction by coaxing a tiny object into states of motion that can be described only by quantum mechanics. Tunneling would be an even bigger achievement.

 

So how does quantum tunneling work?…

 

For the complete article click here to go to ScienceMag.

Share