Converting information into energy
NOV 16, 2010
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.024832
Fox News : For the first time, scientists in Japan have converted information into pure energy. In their experiment, they caused a molecule to climb up a very small “spiral staircase” made of potential energy and created using electric fields. The molecule, which had some thermal energy, moved in random directions. When it went up the staircase, the scientists let it continue; when it went down, they blocked its motion by inserting a virtual wall using an electric field. As the particle moved up the staircase, it gained energy—without the group having to add any; to guide the climb, they simply used the information about which direction the particle happened to be moving at any given time. Their results were published in the 14 November issue of Nature Physics .
© 2010. American Institute of Physics