We often hear the concept of "vacuum". People once thought that "drying the air out of a dense container" was a vacuum. But with the continuous improvement of human science and technology, people have a new understanding of vacuum.
Especially after the rapid advancement of quantum mechanics , scientists have a new understanding of vacuum. Quantum mechanics tells us that the vacuum is not empty at all. On the contrary, the vacuum is very active, more active than the macroscopic world we see every day.
Even if the air is drained out of a closed container, will there be nothing inside? Not really. The vacuum can derive pairs of virtual particles by "borrowing" energy, and then the pairs of virtual particles are instantly annihilated to return the energy. The derivation and annihilation of pairs of virtual particles has been going on in the vacuum.
This phenomenon is called " quantum fluctuation " (quantum fluctuation), and this fluctuation makes the vacuum look like a boiling ocean.
Since the virtual particle pair’s derivative annihilation time is very short and is completed instantly, it is difficult for scientists to directly observe the existence of virtual particles. Therefore, at first people thought that the ghostly virtual particle pairs did not exist, but complex mathematics required virtual particles. It must exist, but it is difficult to exist in reality.
However, in the 1950s, scientists observed a phenomenon in the laboratory that convinced people that the vacuum was really not empty.
This phenomenon is the Casimir effect. To put it simply, two very thin metal pieces were suspended in a vacuum and brought very close to each other. Afterwards, scientists observed a magical phenomenon: the two metal pieces began to attract each other.
The metal pieces themselves are not magnetic and do not conduct electricity. They should be stationary, but that is not the case.
Obviously, there is a weak force pushing them closer to each other. Scientist Casimir proved that this pushing force is generated by the vacuum. There is something in the void pushing the metal sheet, and the pusher is the virtual particles that are constantly derived. right.
This experiment is very demanding, but it is not difficult for scientists.
The Casimir effect has scientists very excited. If the energy in the vacuum can generate mechanical force that pushes the metal sheet, people can use this vacuum energy, and the most indispensable thing in the vast space is vacuum.
Why does the Casimir effect occur?
Because when two metal sheets are close enough, they will squeeze the pairs of virtual particles derived from the inside. As a result, the number of pairs of virtual particles inside becomes smaller and the pairs of virtual particles outside are relatively more, so the number of pairs of virtual particles outside is relatively large. Particle pairs (energy) then push the metal pieces closer to each other.
Although the Casimir effect in the experiment is not very obvious, and the mechanical driving force generated is also very weak, don't forget that the universe is full of vacuum environments. The energy contained in the vacuum is beyond imagination. As the level of human science and technology continues to improve, humans will be able to use this energy to travel the universe in the future!
