Friday, June 22, 2001
In a fascinating paper published in the 31 August, 2000 issue of Nature, Seth Lloyd argued that some interesting limits on computers can be found from the knowledge of the speed of light, c (2.9979 * 10 8 m/s), Plank’s reduced constant, (1.0545 * 10-34 J s), Boltzmann’s constant kb( 1.3805 * 10-23 J/K), the gravitational constant G (6.673 * 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2), and the application of some of the basic concepts of quantum mechanics and thermodynamics. As an example, Lloyd explores what effect these limits would have on what he terms an 'ultimate laptop' - a computer massing 1 kg, and occupying a volume of 1 liter.
posted at 3:45 PM