I asked ChatGPT about it, here's the response:
⚖️ Thermodynamics refresher
1.
*First law (energy conservation):* Energy can’t be created or destroyed,
only transformed.
2.
*Second law (entropy):* In an isolated system, disorder (entropy) tends
to increase. Perpetual motion machines of the second kind (running forever
without energy) are impossible.
------------------------------
🕒 Why a time crystal *seems* to break the rules
A system that oscillates forever without losing energy sounds like a *perpetual
motion machine*, which would be outlawed by thermodynamics. If you had a
pendulum that never slowed down, it would indeed be impossible.
------------------------------
🔑 The trick
Time crystals *aren’t perpetual motion machines* in the classical sense.
The key is:
1.
*They’re quantum systems* → They live in superpositions and evolve under
the rules of quantum mechanics, not classical friction-laden motion.
2.
*They’re periodically driven (Floquet systems)* → Typically, an external
pulse (like a laser or microwave field) provides a regular “kick.” But
instead of absorbing that energy and heating up, the system *locks into
a stable rhythm* that repeats every 2 (or 3, or more) kicks.
-
Example: If you tap a swing every second, a time crystal might
respond by swinging back and forth every *two* seconds, forever. It’s
like a rhythm that doesn’t match the drive, which is what
physicists call *breaking
time-translation symmetry*.
3.
*No work is extracted* → The time crystal doesn’t give you free energy.
You can’t hook it up to a motor to run your house. It just exists in a
weird stable state where its internal configuration repeats endlessly.
------------------------------
🌌 Why entropy doesn’t increase
In normal driven systems, entropy rises because energy gets spread out
(heating). But in a time crystal, the quantum system is in a special
*non-equilibrium
phase of matter* that resists this heating.
It’s like the system finds a “loop” in its possible states and keeps
cycling through it without drifting into chaos.
------------------------------
✅ So, time crystals don’t violate thermodynamics. They’re not perpetual
motion machines in the “get free energy” sense. Instead, they’re *stable
quantum phases* that show repeating motion in time, protected by the
system’s symmetry and quantum effects.
On Mon, 1 Sept 2025 at 19:36, Gillian Densmore <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Uuuh didn't they run that and a similar article a long time ago? It was
> because of it came up What I jokingly call Satan Trek. Or Chtulu Trek:
> Star Trek Discovery: Basically a comedy episode where a character somehow
> uses a time crystal so that a gizmo he has can record, and replay some
> amount of time.
> The article (as I read it) does read a bit...sus.
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 26, 2025 at 8:15 AM Tom Johnson <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> https://www.popsci.com/science/what-is-time-crystal-physics/?ref=thefuturist
>>
>> Interesting development.
>> TJ
>>
>> =======================
>> Tom Johnson
>> Inst. for Analytic Journalism
>> Santa Fe, New Mexico
>> 505-577-6482
>> =======================
>> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. /
>> ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-..
>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom
>> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
>> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
>> archives: 5/2017 thru present
>> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
>> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
>>
> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. /
> ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-..
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom
> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
> archives: 5/2017 thru present
> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
>
.- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / ...
--- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-..
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom
https://bit.ly/virtualfriam
to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
archives: 5/2017 thru present https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/
1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
