Using Crystals to Store Data

Kalrag

I have heard that Quartz crystals are able to store data and information in vast amounts. Is this possible and if so does it work?

Vanadium 50

It would be helpful if you told us where you heard that. The closest thing I have seen is this.

trini

lol v50

Kalrag

I beleive I heard it off the history channel breifly. (CAN ANYBODY BE SERIOUS AROUND HERE ?!?!)

Vanadium 50

The point in asking you where you heard it is so that we can check it out ourselves. "I heard it on the history channel" is not much better than "I heard to somewhere".

JaredJames

Sounds like something off Doctor Who.

Kalrag

I have heard recently off the history channel that Quartz is able to store vast amounts of data within itself. Is this possible? If so how does it work?

Here is a video of the show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re1Ud...eature=related
At about 12:00 Minutes into the video it mentions how quartz can store millions of gigabytes of data.

JaredJames

Isn't this an identical thread to one that was here previously?

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=459868

And, it was by you.

Was it really necessary to create a duplicate post?

Regardless, as per the other thread can you supply any appropriate references to support this?

Kalrag

I was just starting fresh and adding more details. Please just answer my question.

JaredJames

There was no need to create a duplicate thread. We asked in the previous one for you to supply references (appropriate to forum rules) relating to what you are asking.

Regardless of which thread you use, this request doesn't change.

turbo

You do realize that you linked to a woo-woo video about crop circles, aliens, crystal skulls, etc, don't you? That's not a place to find any accurate information on data-storage.

berkeman

Multiple posting is against the PF rules. I've merged your two threads.

And it looks like you need to address what turbo-1 found about the link you posted...

Kalrag

Well, in the video it was talking about how the crystal skull could be carrying information. They stated that Quartz is able to carry huge amounts of data. So I just asked how that works and any other information.

Hope that clears it up.

Kalrag

Its just a couisidence that it ended up in that video.

ZapperZ

At some point, you need to re-read the PF Rules that you had agreed to. Please pay attention to what we consider to be valid sources. If we open up this forum to discuss every single dubious idea from all source, we would never be able to discuss legitimate issues in physics.

Since I cannot figure out what was said in the original source of your information (I will not waste my time in addressing something out of a crackpot youtube video), then I can only hazard a guess to what could be said (please keep in mind from now on that we REQUIRE proper, full citation of the source to figure out what you heard and if you've heard it correctly). What I think is involved here is the "storage" of some kind of vibrations in such quartz crystal.

However, this is only a pie-in-the-sky idea at the moment, because it is presenting a rather naive idea of what can be done. One only needs to see the whole issue involved in information storage when we tried it with BEC gas. You need to not only be able to store the energy in such vibrations, but you need to be able to store the phase information, so that when we "replay" the signal, it comes out with the correct frequency and the correct phase! This is not trivial, and has not been shown clearly in any kind of "crystal".

So your answer right now is a "NO".

Zz.

JaredJames

I watched the original tv show that clip is from and it was anything but scientific.

A lot of people making wild claims with little to no evidence to back it up.

Now can you provide any mainstream published papers or are we discussing an extremely speculative story?

xxChrisxx

So this is the same as all of OPs other "is it possible" threads then.

To answer the question. It's probably possible to store data on crystals.

EDIT:
To be fair to Kalrag, at least this thread had a legitimate question attached to it. Even though the cause of said question was a crackpot TV show.