Physics World November 2013

Circles of time: dating rocks through climate cycle

Our lead feature this month is about a strange series of experiments examining the behaviour of oil droplets vibrating on the surface of an oil bath. The droplets are classical in nature but also seem to show much of what would be expected of a quantum system, including interference patterns. So is this coincidence or not? Jon Cartwright investigates. Elsewhere, we have an intriguing feature by Richard Corfield on how geological events can be dated through a chain of methods that link variations in the Earth’s orbit to the appearance and disappearance of glaciers and in turn to the quantity of radioactive nuclei in certain rocks. Our final feature, by Katia Moskvitch, shows how the humble locust’s amazing collision-avoiding powers could possibly lead to better crash sensors for cars.

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