|
Zero Point / Vacuum Energy Page 1 - 2 Introduction
In modern physics, zero point energy or vacuum energy is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical physical system can have, and is considered as the energy at the "ground state". The quantum mechanical system surrounding the energy is the zero point field.
The experimental evidence for this vacuum energy is primarily based on the Casimir effect. In short, what he theorized was that as two plates (grounded / electrically neutral) in the vacuum (empty space) come closer together, only electromagnetic waves who's wavelengths allow them to fit (a whole number of times) within the separation distance of the plates can contribute to the vacuum energy. So as the plates are brought closer together the energy density outside the plates is stronger (greater) than that between the plates, therefore creating an attractive force between the plates. It's important to note that this attractive force can be reversed so that the energy density within the plates can be greater than that outside of the plates and therefore produce a repulsive force between the plates. This is done by creating a cavity (space between plates) resonance, by specific wavelengths and distance between the plates.
In any case, previous common sense would have said that when you bring these two plates close together in empty space, that nothing would happen, but this doesn't turn out to be the case. There apparently is a force exerted by the vacuum itself that produces this attraction. This theory by Hendrick Casimir in 1948, was experimentally verified by Steven Lamoreaux at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1996. Now, you may think that anything at this scale won't have a noticeable affect in the macroscopic world but, you would probably be wrong. There are many implications to the Casimir effect including the possibility of faster than light travel, but we'll stick to the vacuum / ZPE energy in this section. Below are a series of really nice videos (11) discussing the possibilities of extracting and using some of this vacuum energy. Enjoy! This next video is # 2 The next video is # 3
At this point it should start becoming obvious that there may be something to this Vacuum / Zero Point Energy, but that it's it's not going to be easy to extract and /or use it by current scientific theories. The next video is # 4 The next video is # 5. Obviously there would be enormous practical aspects to using vacuum energy rather than current methods of energy production. The first thing that comes to mind, would be the fact that it's for all intense any purposes, infinite and clean (theoretically anyway). Hard to say what the repercussions would be if we actually were able to siphon off some of this energy.
Return to Home Page from Zero Point - Vacuum Energy Return to Fringe Science & Technology
|
