In reply to Horace Heffner's message of Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:46:23 -0800: Hi, [snip] > >On Oct 7, 2009, at 12:41 PM, mix...@bigpond.com wrote: > >> In reply to Horace Heffner's message of Wed, 7 Oct 2009 08:45:48 >> -0800: >> Hi, >> [snip] >>> It is technically very difficult to obtain plate spacings of less >>> than a micron. >> [snip] >> Normal solids already have crystal lattice spacing on the order of >> Angstroms. > >How is the relevant?
Think of a single crystal as two crystals separated by a single lattice spacing. The separation distance between the two is exactly one lattice spacing. Now you have two "plates" effectively with near perfectly smooth surfaces separated from one another by a very small distance. Note that "real" plates also have surfaces comprising atomic lattices, so the only difference in this case is the separation distance which is vastly smaller than anything we could achieve mechanically. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
