Alright, first column.  An intro is in course.

Given my curiosity and knowledge of the theoretical and physical physics and my curiosity for technologies of the now and future, it seems fitting that these are the subjects I will be talking about in my column.  Homeslice can take on politics, I'll take this on.

So, without further ado, let's get on with it.  I'll take theoretical physics for 1000 please, Alex.

The topic we are going to have all of the epic sex with is Quantum Tunneling.  Is it real?  What's the dealio with it anyway?  Why do we have it?  And what are the impacts of its' existence?

Okay, quantum tunneling has not been proven to exist.  So is it real?  Simply put, we have no fucking clue at all.  We do not have the technology to detect such an anomaly.  All we can do right now to figure it is to do some calculations and answer the question “Can it possibly exist with our current laws of physics?”  To answer that question, given the theoretical complexities of these tunnels, yes they can exist.  However, that does not mean they necessarily do.  Just that they can.

Quantum Tunneling is a theory to correspond with the theory of Hawking Radiation (though that's not where it got it's start), which is essentially saying that black holes -- analogous with the cosmic vacuum cleaners -- do, in fact, emit radiation.  These tunnels are the concept that actually allows black holes to radiate.  These tunnels are actual sidesteps to our three-dimensional space.  Matter that travels through these tunnels are not in normal space, but rather in some kind of outside space that breaks the laws of physics.

If the concept of quantum tunneling is real, it could mean that matter can, in fact, travel faster than light (hence the initial purpose for them being to allow Hawking Radiation to be real).  What does that mean for us?  Maybe, one day, one of us (hopefully me) will be the real life version of Zefram Cochran. 

Take that as you will.

-[alpha]{BETA}[delta]