The Art of Quantum Forces
Imagine a top turning and turning in a widening gyre, like a dancer without a partner, its spin axis wobbling as though it were under the influence. What keeps that top going round and round in hypnotic whorls is a force called angular momentum, a challenge to the leaden tugs of inertia and gravity. Angular momentum is a property fundamental to spinning objects at all scales of the universe, from planetary motions and galactic spirals to tides and light waves, to the tiniest quantum particles that blink in and out of existence.
It also propelled the creation of Angular Momentum, an art show by Brooklyn-based artists Chris Klapper and Patrick Gallagher currently on exhibit at the art gallery at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. The show explores the mysteries of infinitesimal energies and spinning particles in the quantum world.
