• Question: Is it possible to teleport?

    Asked by anon-209684 to Verity, Sergio, Nick, Maria, David, Annette on 8 Mar 2019. This question was also asked by anon-209692.
    • Photo: David Whitworth

      David Whitworth answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      Not at the moment, but who knows in the future. There are ideas about teleportation, is it moving matter from one place to another like picking up and moving a pencil from one side of the table to the other. Or is it sending information through the atoms that make up space and having atoms in another place make up the object like when we tranfser energy in a Newtons Cradle?

      There are ideas related to quantum entanglement and teleportation but unfortunately I don’t know much about them, sorry.

    • Photo: Annette Raffan

      Annette Raffan answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      I think the closest scientists have got is quantum entanglement where basically two particles are created equal – if one thing happens to one, then it happens to the other but with no physical connection between the two. They did this between Earth and a satellite in space. But because there is no movement from one location to another it is not termed teleportation. I think the hope is to use it for super quantum internet and communication of data.
      It would be cool if it were possible for humans. Would you put yourself forward as the first person to try?

    • Photo: Nick Werren

      Nick Werren answered on 10 Mar 2019:

      A long time ago, Albert Einstein got angry with quantum physics. He didn’t like that two particles could share information faster than the speed of light… which he thought was impossible. Whether Einstein liked it or not, it’s true (although it’s quite complicated as to why), and we called this phenomenon “entanglement”.

      So why is this important?

      Entanglement is cool. If I entangled myself with a machine that could 3D print a human, then MAYBE I could use that to transfer my consciousness and body across the cosmos faster than the speed of light and the machine could rebuild me.

      However, we’re still discovering a lot about entanglement, and how it works. And there’s a chance I would just be killing myself and creating a copy of me somewhere else! On top of that – we don’t have the technology yet or the mathematics to explain how we’d do it. BUT there’s still the possibility. I would much prefer to teleport a sandwich before I teleported myself though!!!

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