In response to Robin's comment below... You can find 100 people who will tell you something can't be done, for every one that at least will try! Scientists currently hold various physical objects (including atoms) in place using strong electric or magnetic fields, or even light. So I think it very likely that an experimental setup could be devised to do what I envision. And I'm not so sure that the ZPF will be a factor either.
-Mark -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 3:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Vo]: Another advancement toward an atomic 'strobe-light'... In reply to Mark Iverson's message of Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:33:50-0700: [snip] >I now want to see the following experiment: > >- Hold a single H atom in a 'fixture' so that it is not physically >touching anything else. This can be done in a vacuum chamber and using >electric and/or magnetic fields to hold and position it. These fields would >also likely orient the atom in a consistent way. You can't do this, because the nucleus is always subject to the ZPF. IOW it's always moving around randomly, and consequently the electron never encounters it twice in the same place. (BTW the electron itself is of course also subject to the ZPF). Regards, Robin van Spaandonk
