Time Crystals are Very Interesting - Ask a Spaceman!

What’s the deal with time crystals? Do they break physics as we know it? Or are they merely…neat? What do symmetries and the conservation of energy have to do with it? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman!

Keep those questions about space, science, astronomy, astrophysics, physics, and cosmology coming to #AskASpaceman for COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF TIME AND SPACE!

Big thanks to my top Patreon supporters this month: Justin G., Kevin O., Justin R., Helge B., Tim R., Michael C., Lars H., Ray S., John F., James L., Mark R., Alan M., David B., and Silvan W.!
Music by Jason Grady and Nick Bain. Thanks to WCBE Radio for hosting the recording session, Greg Mobius for producing, and Cathy Rinella for editing.

[youbotic]

Hi Paul, I like your style of breaking these ideas down. Could you please do another video that updates what we now know about time crystals since there have been some new potentially useful ways to combine them for example by combining them with topological superconductors? I think maybe time crystals may prove to be useful after-all. What are your thoughts? Thanks!

[cosmicatrophy]

It took me until about halfway through this video to realize you weren't talking about the piezoelectric effect. Can you cite some examples of these types of systems? This is really the first I've heard about this topic

[obi]

What are the implications of this breaking of the conservation of energy?

[Gustavo-lzmi]

Thanks for this video, it's very interesting!

[perfectlycontent]

Thank you for the clear and concise explanation! The first articles I read on time crystals were not nearly as eloquent.

Can a time crystal's violation of conservation of energy have consequences for external systems? Or is this more like a kind of quantum weirdness. Like how quantum entanglement does not actually violate the speed of causality.

[MrKago]

so time crystals pulse just intrinsically? I think I had a misconception they were like quartz with a charge run through it. could these some how be used in computers?

[Deustiosus]

O.K., you said what the thing is and that it exists... What does this discovery mean? Why have I not heard of it before?

[michaelmacomber]

You're referring to actual crystals. Like those found in the earth? I'm not quite following I guess. Is a space crystal just floating around or are they found in other planets and stars? Sorry for my ignorance. I love your videos but I guess this is the first I'm hearing about crystals in space and time. If it's not an earth crystal how do you know any details about them?

[MusiCaninesTheMusicalDogs]

Well... Do time crystals prove our current understanding of reality is wrong somehow?