Scientists Demonstrate Negative Effective Mass in a Bose-Einstein Condensate at Washington State University

While the concept of negative mass seems somewhat counter-intuitive because of our observations in the physical world, Einstein considered it in his Theory of General Relativity and now, some scientists are beginning to postulate that negative mass could exist — if it exists as what is known as a perfect fluid, (i.e. one that does not conduct heat and has no viscosity) not as a solid. But how can mass, which at its most basic level, is defined as ‘all the matter contained within a body’, ever be negative? What does negative mass even mean? It does not mean, for example, that there is zero mass because that would be defined as a vacuum. We are used to speaking of positive and negative charges when describing particles that make up atoms, so negative mass would be mass but with the opposite charge to the positive (physical) mass we experience daily. Its properties and interactions, however, would be diametrically opposed to those of positive mass.  For example, there is a reciprocal attraction between positive mass and gravity (a quality that we rely on in our interactions with the physical world) but negative mass would likely repel gravity and possibly ‘fall upwards’ – a scenario necessary for anti-gravity machines to work, for example, and considered to fall squarely and solely within the realm of science fiction! Furthermore, we are used to seeing a ball accelerate away from the hand that is throwing it and Newton’s Third Law states that ‘when a force acts on another object there is an equal and opposite reaction’. Could it ever be possible that if you threw the ball it would fly back towards you instead of away from you? That might happen if it was possible to have a ball of negative mass!

Recently, in 2017, scientists at Washington State University created a Bose-Einstein superfluid with negative effective mass, which means that it effectively behaves as though it has negative mass.  In a Bose-Einstein condensate, the threshold between the physical world and the quantum world begins to blur and the slow-moving particles act in unison, more like a wave, forming a superfluid that flows without losing energy to friction. In this instance, the physicists at WSU used lasers to cool rubidium to a minute fraction above absolute zero (-273oC) by slowing the particles down and allowing high energy particles to escape. The superfluid was confined in a bowl-like field by the lasers and the scientists then used a second set of lasers to change the spin-orbit of the particles. When the ‘bowl’ began to ‘crack’ allowing the condensate to escape the confines of the field, remarkably the fluid demonstrated the properties of negative mass, or as one of the analysts commented, “Once you push it, it accelerates backwards. It looks like the rubidium hits a wall.”

Physicists and mathematicians have established that the concept of negative mass is mathematically consistent — and here it is interesting to contemplate MIT’s Max Tegmark’s hypothesis that all structures that exist mathematically exist also physically. Furthermore, the work at WSU has demonstrated that conditions of negative mass can be created and controlled in the laboratory. This fine laboratory control has now created the possibility of studying exotic cosmic phenomena such as black holes as well as the dark matter and dark energy that make up about 95% of our universe in the laboratory, work that will expand our understanding of the reality behind the statement in The Keys of Enoch® that an invisible world of negative mass … shapes the atomic nucleus and is used in the building of the physical energy system of our visible galaxy. (Key 106:3) The more scientists study negative mass and blackholes, the more they will also be opening to the possibility that negative mass provides a mechanism for the direct interaction among different levels of organised matter fields in our local universe. (Key 118:36)

Furthermore, in Key 401 we read that the power to accelerate or slow matter in the universe relates to the field of negative mass (and the existing Gravity and Magnetic fields) providing universal structure. (v165) According to mathematical equations, negative mass repels all mass and thus would repel positive mass, but positive mass would be attracted to negative mass, locking them together. In the super-cold conditions of space, the matrix of perfect fluid created by these interacting forces of attraction and repulsion could be, for instance, a medium for the propagation and possible modulation of gravitational waves, which although previously considered hypothetical, have recently been detected by LIGO.

As scientists continue to delve into the ‘weirdness’ of the quantum world, previous convictions of what is possible and what is not, what our reality really looks like, are being challenged and overturned. Experiments like those at WSU will continue to provide insights into the unseen world that lies behind our physical world.


9/28/2017 ‘Negative mass’ created at Washington State University | WSU News | Washington State University

9/28/2017 Physicists Say They’ve Created a Fluid With ‘Negative Mass’ – ScienceAlert

9/30/2017 Cold atoms and negative mass – Science Huβ Publishing