Quantum Geckos

This cute photo makes one hungry for papaya! More fond memories are of the beach house on Hanalei Bay, the picture window facing the ocean and geckos that climbed the glass every night. As children we learned that geckos are friends who eat mosquitoes and other pests. From the time of Aristotle, scientists have wondered how geckos can stick to perfectly smooth surfaces. Only in 2002 did this PNAS paper tell of a solution. The gecko's secret lies in the realm of quantum mechanics, virtual particles and the van der Waals effect.

Geckos in the Escher drawing occupy both positive and negative space. Quantum mechanics theorises that apparently empty Space is a sea of virtual particles constantly winking in and out of existence. If two surfaces are extremely close together, quantum particles have no room to pop in. This creates a quantum vacuum, allowing the surfaces to stick. Gecko toes are covered with millions of bristles, each of which is covered with thousands of microscopic hairs. This allows a gecko to get extremely close to any surface, and break free by retracting the hairs.

Researchers have attempted to mimic the gecko's ability to create super-strong adhesives. So far they have difficulty producing gecko-derived adhesive in a usable quantity. Makers of carbon nanotubes face a similiar challenge if they are to build Space elevators. The gecko made use of quantum mechanics long before humans figured it out!

The protons and electrons that we are made of began as virtual particles. Today they pop in and just as quickly pop out, because the Universe has reached a stable density. Near the Big Bang the Universe had not reached this density. Virtual particles could pop in and stay.

Suppose that the Universe is spherical with a radius given by:

R = ct

The volume of this 4-dimensional Riemann sphere is given by :
V = 2 ($\pi$^2) (R^3)

We know that GM = tc^3. For an initial mass M, density $\rho_i$ is just M/V:

$\rho_i$ = M/V = (2 $\pi$^2 G t^2 )^{-1}

But the stable density $\rho_f$ after matter has formed is:

$\rho_f$ = ($6 \pi G$t^2)^{-1}

Difference between $\rho_i$ before matter and $\rho_f$ after matter formation is precisely 4.507034%. This unique prediction of Theory has been verified by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Density allows us to check the geometry of the Universe. If it had a different shape, the percentage of baryonic matter would be different.

Why have more people not heard about this? While it is easy to write about strings or "dark energy," theories predicting a changing speed of light are difficult to even publish. Nevertheless, another paper is shortly appearing in a journal and the word is spreading exponentially. The happiest one of all will still be that gecko getting his papaya!