What is a time crystal?
In: Planetary Science
A normal crystal is a repeating pattern in 1, 2, or 3 spatial dimensions. A salt crystal, for example, consists of alternating sodium and chloride ions in a 3-D matrix. A time crystal extends this repeating pattern into the fourth dimension, time.
Now, a wristwatch ticking the seconds is not a time crystal because there is energy being placed into the system from its battery. For a time crystal to be considered valid, it has to repeat its pattern *without* external input. Needless to day, that’s very difficult to achieve, though the longest sustained time crystal has lasted about 40 minutes, which is pretty good.
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