What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be

G

GreenXenon

Guest
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?


Thanks
 
On Mon, 1 Jun 2009 17:15:19 -0700 (PDT), GreenXenon
<glucegen1x@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?


Thanks
Click to expand...
You can buy nanovoltmeters that will resolve a couple of hundred
picovolts, if you're careful.

Superconductive SQUID detectors can measure a picovolt.

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.

John
 
On Jun 1, 5:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Go bugger yourself, you spamming pile of shit.
 
On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:40:20 -0700, John Larkin
<jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.

John
Click to expand...
PMTs can be good enough to detect single photon events.
 
rickman wrote:
On Jun 1, 10:33 pm, ItsASecretDummy
secretasian...@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org> wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:40:20 -0700, John Larkin

jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.

John

PMTs can be good enough to detect single photon events.

Hmmm... I have a $35 digital multimeter that can measure exactly 0
volts!
Click to expand...

No, it can't. It can display zero, even with some voltage at the
input. The issues is the resolution of the meter. Even with the probes
shorted, you will have some Johnson noise which is generated by the
resistors in the input circuitry, if the meter is above absolute zero
degrees. That voltage is too low to be displayed, but it is still there.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
 
Eric Gisse wrote:
On Jun 1, 4:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks

Oh my god please fuck off from sci.physics. We do not want you.
Click to expand...

Just kill file the idiot. If no one replies, they will give up.
Trolls thrive on attention, so you have to starve them.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
 
On Mon, 1 Jun 2009 20:44:42 -0700 (PDT), rickman <gnuarm@gmail.com>
wrote:

On Jun 1, 10:33 pm, ItsASecretDummy
secretasian...@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org> wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:40:20 -0700, John Larkin

jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.

John

  PMTs can be good enough to detect single photon events.

Hmmm... I have a $35 digital multimeter that can measure exactly 0
volts!

Rick
Click to expand...
Yeah, but to how many percentage accuracy?

John
 
On Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:19:17 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
<mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:

Eric Gisse wrote:

On Jun 1, 4:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks

Oh my god please fuck off from sci.physics. We do not want you.


Just kill file the idiot. If no one replies, they will give up.
Trolls thrive on attention, so you have to starve them.
Click to expand...
But he asked a sensible question this time.

John
 
"John Larkin" <jjlarkin@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in message
news:8ja92596ge13pihcjgdth01as8or0790d3@4ax.com...
On Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:19:17 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote:


Eric Gisse wrote:

On Jun 1, 4:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks

Oh my god please fuck off from sci.physics. We do not want you.


Just kill file the idiot. If no one replies, they will give up.
Trolls thrive on attention, so you have to starve them.

But he asked a sensible question this time.

John

Never the less, into the binary bin with him I say !!
Click to expand...

Rheilly P
 
"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:CMudnRFLId9xOrnXnZ2dnUVZ_qCdnZ2d@earthlink.com...
rickman wrote:

On Jun 1, 10:33 pm, ItsASecretDummy
secretasian...@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org> wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:40:20 -0700, John Larkin

jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.

John

PMTs can be good enough to detect single photon events.

Hmmm... I have a $35 digital multimeter that can measure exactly 0
volts!


No, it can't. It can display zero, even with some voltage at the
input. The issues is the resolution of the meter. Even with the probes
shorted, you will have some Johnson noise which is generated by the
resistors in the input circuitry, if the meter is above absolute zero
degrees. That voltage is too low to be displayed, but it is still there.


--
You can't have a sense of humor, if you have no sense!
Click to expand...
Yeah, but when it's exactly zero volts, that what the $35 multimeter will
display, so he wasn't incorrect.

;)
 
On Jun 1, 4:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Oh my god please fuck off from sci.physics. We do not want you.
 
On Jun 1, 10:33 pm, ItsASecretDummy
<secretasian...@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org> wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:40:20 -0700, John Larkin

jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.

John

  PMTs can be good enough to detect single photon events.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... I have a $35 digital multimeter that can measure exactly 0
volts!

Rick
 
On Jun 1, 11:44 pm, rickman <gnu...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Jun 1, 10:33 pm, ItsASecretDummy

secretasian...@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org> wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:40:20 -0700, John Larkin

jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.

John

  PMTs can be good enough to detect single photon events.

Hmmm...  I have a $35 digital multimeter that can measure exactly 0
volts!
Click to expand...
Well, but zero volts is ancient history, rather than a
measurement.
Which is why the people with brains invented optcal computers, flat
sceeen hdtv debuggers,
c++, distributed processing, blue ray, holograms, xml, usb, on-line
banking, on-line shopping,
on-line publishing, diigital-terrain mapping, post Ford Batteries,
and self-assembling robots, rather than idiot physics anyway.




Rick
Click to expand...
 
Eric Gisse wrote:
On Jun 1, 4:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks

Oh my god please fuck off from sci.physics. We do not want you.
Is there any one in this group with the necessary scholastic
Click to expand...
qualifications to diagnose the reason this poster asks such esoteric
questions
 
F Murtz wrote:
Eric Gisse wrote:
On Jun 1, 4:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks

Oh my god please fuck off from sci.physics. We do not want you.
Is there any one in this group with the necessary scholastic
qualifications to diagnose the reason this poster asks such esoteric
questions
Click to expand...
It probably needs someone from the astronomical and satellite-making
communities (and maybe folk at Cern et al), who have necessarily to deal
with the smallest detectable signals; and the answer will (a) probably
have to do with the lowest-achievable noise (C --> Absolute Zero), and
(b) change regularly as new technology is developed to see further back
in space/time, and to detect smaller and smaller (etc) particles. To
these folks, a photon or an electron is probably pretty loud.

The best I can suggest is to start with picovolts and work downwards,
e.g. (from a quick google search):

http://www.emelectronics.co.uk/spec/P12.html
http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_7_27_98.html

Are yattovolts measured anywhere? I had not known of this unit until
this question popped up, so I am already grateful for learning something
new, even if its everyday usage is (for me) rather limited.


sci.physics appears not to be on the list. If it is a legitimate albeit
esoteric question, I would have thought they would be the most likely to
enjoy both the question and its answers. Though I have observed that as
a general rule, people on newsgroups prefer questions that have answers
that can be both definitive and short. Perhaps this is not one of those?

Richard Dobson
 
rickman wrote:
On Jun 1, 10:33 pm, ItsASecretDummy
secretasian...@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org> wrote:
On Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:40:20 -0700, John Larkin

jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.
John
PMTs can be good enough to detect single photon events.

Hmmm... I have a $35 digital multimeter that can measure exactly 0
volts!
Click to expand...
How exactly?

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ
 
On Jun 1, 5:58 pm, Certainly not a sock-puppet <bongo...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Go bugger yourself
Click to expand...

aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-
ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh
aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-
ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh
aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-
ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh
aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-
ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh
aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-
ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh
aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-
ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh
aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-
ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh
aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-
ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh aah-ooh
 
On Jun 1, 5:40 pm, John Larkin
<jjlar...@highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

You can buy nanovoltmeters that will resolve a couple of hundred
picovolts, if you're careful.

Superconductive SQUID detectors can measure a picovolt.

Single-electron transistors can sense, well, single electrons.
Click to expand...

Are there any devices that can detect, receive, record, playback,
modulate/demodulate, transmit and/or otherwise process signals with
peak-to-peak amplitudes around 1 femtovolt?
 
On Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:03:42 +1000, F Murtz <haggisz@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Eric Gisse wrote:
On Jun 1, 4:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks

Oh my god please fuck off from sci.physics. We do not want you.
Is there any one in this group with the necessary scholastic
qualifications to diagnose the reason this poster asks such esoteric
questions
Click to expand...
He seems interested in the issues but confused about physical units.

I suppose I should get on with writing my book, to make all this stuff
plain.

John
 
On Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:25:54 +0100, Richard Dobson
<richarddobson@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

F Murtz wrote:
Eric Gisse wrote:
On Jun 1, 4:15 pm, GreenXenon <glucege...@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi:

What is the smallest physically-possible voltage that can be detected
or processed given the state of today's technology?

Thanks

Oh my god please fuck off from sci.physics. We do not want you.
Is there any one in this group with the necessary scholastic
qualifications to diagnose the reason this poster asks such esoteric
questions

It probably needs someone from the astronomical and satellite-making
communities (and maybe folk at Cern et al), who have necessarily to deal
with the smallest detectable signals; and the answer will (a) probably
have to do with the lowest-achievable noise (C --> Absolute Zero), and
(b) change regularly as new technology is developed to see further back
in space/time, and to detect smaller and smaller (etc) particles. To
these folks, a photon or an electron is probably pretty loud.

The best I can suggest is to start with picovolts and work downwards,
e.g. (from a quick google search):

http://www.emelectronics.co.uk/spec/P12.html
http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_7_27_98.html

Are yattovolts measured anywhere? I had not known of this unit until
this question popped up, so I am already grateful for learning something
new, even if its everyday usage is (for me) rather limited.


sci.physics appears not to be on the list. If it is a legitimate albeit
esoteric question, I would have thought they would be the most likely to
enjoy both the question and its answers. Though I have observed that as
a general rule, people on newsgroups prefer questions that have answers
that can be both definitive and short. Perhaps this is not one of those?

Richard Dobson
Click to expand...
I bought a nice old Keithley electrometer on ebay. Analog-needle
meter. Its lowest range is +- 1e-14 amps. Cool stuff.

John
 
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