i was wondering whether we would ever have tv’s where you can pull something out of the tv screen, like a chocolate

Question: i was wondering whether we would ever have tv's where you can pull something out of the tv screen, like a chocolate bar and you could physically have it in your hand. is it possible? a bit like the part in charlie and the chocolate factory... and i am pretty sure it will cause mayhem but it would be really amazing if we did have those type of tv's

Asked by erandavitija to Sarah, Laura, Lily, Mark, Paul on 24 Jun 2010 in Categories: General. This question was also asked by dude.
- Laura Maliszewski answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  I don’t know. There is a type of printer where you design something, like a small box in 3D, then the printer prints it in plastic and makes the 3D box. So maybe not pulling something out of the TV, but you may someday be able to see something you want and have it printed at home!
- Paul Roche answered on 18 Jun 2010:
  
  That would be great, but probably lead to lots of really unhealthy, overweight people! The idea of a machine that can “manufacture” things from some basic raw material exists in lots of science fiction stories – essentially, everything is just a collection of atoms, so why can’t you shove a load of atoms in one end (e.g. a load of hydrogen gas or something simple like that), have the machine create the atoms that you ask for (e.g. a chocolate bar), and then have that pop out of the other end.
  
  It’s still science fiction, but like lots of stuff that used to be considered fiction, it might just happen one day – as long as the chocolate is also magically zero-fat, I think it would be a great invention!
- Mark Roberts answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  That would be cool wouldn’t it.
  
  Sadly as that means making stuff out of thin air so I doubt it will ever happen – at least not any time soon.
- Lily Asquith answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  I don’t think we will ever have a television that can do that, but it *is* theoretically possible.
  
  We have already managed to do experiments with “entangled” pairs of photons (light particles). They are created together, like identical twins, and when you separate them they remain “in communication” with one another for all eternity, however far apart they are separated.
  
  What this means is that if you can keep one with you and do stuff to it, the other one will be affected and change its properties acordingly, even if it is on the other side of the universe.
  
  The tricky bit is doing this with more complicated things like atoms, molecules, and eventually chocolate bars 😉
- Sarah Bardsley answered on 24 Jun 2010:
  
  I wrote a long, lovely answer for you about 3D printers. And then the answer disappeared. Damn it!