Zero Point Energy
Was reading an interesting article today about the zero point energy (ZPE), and came across these amazing facts:
"In order to appreciate the magnitude of the ZPE in each cubic centimetre of space, consider a conservative estimate of 1052 ergs/cc. Most people are familiar with the light bulbs with which we illuminate our houses. The one in my office is labelled as 150 watts. (A watt is defined as 107 ergs per second.) By comparison, our sun radiates energy at the rate of 3.8 x 1020 watts. In our galaxy there are in excess of 100 billion stars. If we assume they all radiate at about the same intensity as our sun, then the amount of energy expended by our entire galaxy of stars shining for one million years is roughly equivalent to the energy locked up in one cubic centimetre of space."
...
"The physical vacuum of space therefore appears to be made up of an all-pervasive sea of Planck particles whose density is an unbelievable 3.6 x 1093 grams per cubic centimetre. It might be wondered how anything can move through such a medium. It is because de Broglie wavelengths of elementary particles are so long compared with the Planck length, L*, that the vacuum is 'transparent' to these elementary particles. It is for the same reason that long wavelength infrared light can travel through a dense cloud in space and reveal what is within instead of being absorbed, and why light can pass through dense glass. Therefore, motion of elementary particles through the vacuum will be effortless, as long as these particles do not have energies of the magnitude of what is referred to as Planck energy, or M* c2 ('c' is the velocity of light). Atomic particles of that energy would simply be absorbed by the structure of the vacuum. From the figures for the density given above, the energy associated with this Planck particle sea making up the physical vacuum can be calculated to be of the order of 10114 ergs per cubic centimetre, the same as the maximum value for the ZPE."
... More information on the Casmir effect, why atoms don't self destruct, the variable speed of light, and galactic redshift can be found in the original article here.
Was reading an interesting article today about the zero point energy (ZPE), and came across these amazing facts:
"In order to appreciate the magnitude of the ZPE in each cubic centimetre of space, consider a conservative estimate of 1052 ergs/cc. Most people are familiar with the light bulbs with which we illuminate our houses. The one in my office is labelled as 150 watts. (A watt is defined as 107 ergs per second.) By comparison, our sun radiates energy at the rate of 3.8 x 1020 watts. In our galaxy there are in excess of 100 billion stars. If we assume they all radiate at about the same intensity as our sun, then the amount of energy expended by our entire galaxy of stars shining for one million years is roughly equivalent to the energy locked up in one cubic centimetre of space."
...
"The physical vacuum of space therefore appears to be made up of an all-pervasive sea of Planck particles whose density is an unbelievable 3.6 x 1093 grams per cubic centimetre. It might be wondered how anything can move through such a medium. It is because de Broglie wavelengths of elementary particles are so long compared with the Planck length, L*, that the vacuum is 'transparent' to these elementary particles. It is for the same reason that long wavelength infrared light can travel through a dense cloud in space and reveal what is within instead of being absorbed, and why light can pass through dense glass. Therefore, motion of elementary particles through the vacuum will be effortless, as long as these particles do not have energies of the magnitude of what is referred to as Planck energy, or M* c2 ('c' is the velocity of light). Atomic particles of that energy would simply be absorbed by the structure of the vacuum. From the figures for the density given above, the energy associated with this Planck particle sea making up the physical vacuum can be calculated to be of the order of 10114 ergs per cubic centimetre, the same as the maximum value for the ZPE."
... More information on the Casmir effect, why atoms don't self destruct, the variable speed of light, and galactic redshift can be found in the original article here.
posted by AlexanderTheGreat at 2:48 AM
3 Comments:
Hmmmm... perhaps you might want to provide a bit more commentary and explain this all to your non-engineering readers (or at least me, anyway).
You lost me at "Was..", but would love to know/understand more. We should all know more about science than we do.
I purposely selected the parts that were were fairly non-scientist readable and important in order to peak the reader's interest. I can only show you the door...
More importantly, forget about physics, but literally being surrounded by/part of the infinite?
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