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Article: Wave away the material world
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- May 6, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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We live in a world of comforting solidity in which everything
has its place and nothing can be in two places at once. Yet a
series of experiments carried out in France, Russia, and the US
last year is undermining our perceptions of the way the world is.
Some things can indeed be in two places at once - possibly even
living creatures - and the reassuring solidity of our material
world appears to be illusory.
Matter, the rigid "stuff" we see all around us, isn't really
hard little pellets all stuck together but is mostly waves and
empty space. It certainly seems as if matter is pretty hard stuff.
For instance, salt crystals are so hard that it takes a grinder to
reduce chunky ones to a more ...