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View Full Version : Researchers create light from 'almost nothing'



Agloco
11-18-2011, 10:12 AM
Ok......another exciting result to report.

I hope this isn't too voodoo for most here. They do a good job of explaining the Casimir Effect simply.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-researchers-create-light-from-almost.html


The experiment shows that the Casimir effect is not just theory; named after Dutch physicist Hendrik B. G. Casimir who along with Dirk Polderfirst first proposed back in the late 1940’s, the idea of a force that existed in a vacuum; a force that should, if manipulated just right between two plates, or mirrors, result in the creation of photons.

The thinking goes that in any vacuum, virtual particles come into existence and then disappear on a constant ongoing basis; and they do so in waves. The Casimir effect proposes that if two very tiny mirrors were to be placed very close together; close enough that the distance between them would be smaller than the length of some of the virtual waves, a force would be created as the number of particles outside of the space between the mirrors grows higher than the number that exists between them, causing a pull on the mirrors, dragging them closer together. The force that is created, it has been theorized, could then be used to generate photons.

Wild Cobra
11-18-2011, 10:17 AM
Are you suggesting a Zero Point Module (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Point_Module#Zero_Point_Module)?

FuzzyLumpkins
11-18-2011, 12:40 PM
That quantum foam so to speak happens on the plank length. Do they have to make the array that small? I dont see how they could but if they have thats unbelievable!

boutons_deux
11-18-2011, 01:10 PM
nano's gonna deliver some science fiction stuff.

if wild nano particles don't kill us first.

boutons_deux
11-18-2011, 02:57 PM
some cool nano stuff

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/11/18/HRL-microlattice_dandelion_610x519.jpg

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-57327382-264/breakthrough-material-is-barely-more-than-air/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&tag=nl.e703

for WC:

The research was conducted for the United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

LnGrrrR
11-18-2011, 03:51 PM
some cool nano stuff

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/11/18/HRL-microlattice_dandelion_610x519.jpg

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-57327382-264/breakthrough-material-is-barely-more-than-air/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&tag=nl.e703

for WC:

The research was conducted for the United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Free energy? Alright!

Wait wait... the government was involved! BAH! FIE! :lol

Phenomanul
11-18-2011, 04:08 PM
some cool nano stuff

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/11/18/HRL-microlattice_dandelion_610x519.jpg

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-57327382-264/breakthrough-material-is-barely-more-than-air/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&tag=nl.e703

for WC:

The research was conducted for the United States' Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Next thing you know, NIKE will file a patent to use the material as the next great shoe insert... to create lighter than air sneakers...

Phenomanul
11-18-2011, 04:42 PM
I would also add that Agloco's title is misleading (perhap's facetiously playful) in the sense that a vacuum still has energy... and AFAIK energy is still considered 'something'...

He did include the 'almost' modifier... so I guess there's that...

Phenomanul
11-18-2011, 05:36 PM
....

Double post

redzero
11-18-2011, 06:28 PM
Yes, we all know only Baby Jesus can create light from nothing.

Nbadan
11-18-2011, 07:59 PM
This is how vertex get open...

....incidentally, those pesky engineered nano-termite spheres found all other The WTC buildings.....thoooooooooooose are science fiction!

Agloco
11-18-2011, 10:25 PM
That quantum foam so to speak happens on the plank length. Do they have to make the array that small? I dont see how they could but if they have thats unbelievable!

Indeed.


I would also add that Agloco's title is misleading (perhap's facetiously playful) in the sense that a vacuum still has energy... and AFAIK energy is still considered 'something'...

He did include the 'almost' modifier... so I guess there's that...

There's some semantic debate about what constitutes "something". A vacuum is supposedly "nothing", which we have now shown to contain "something". Is there ever, then, the absence of "something"? :lol

That's for another discussion though.