Zero Point Energy doc
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| ZP OWER C ORPORATION PAGE OF 352 Z ERO P OINT E NERGY conservatively estimated to be on the order of nuclear energy densities or greater The enormity of the figures describing the vacuum electromagnetic zero-point energy raises the question as to whether these numbers should betaken seriously, whether they are due to some defector misinterpretation of the theory, whether the ZPF fields ought to be considered as 'virtual' or 'real There is, however, no question but that the ZPF fields lead to real, measurable physical consequences. One example is the very real Casimir force an experimentally-verified [7-9] ZPF-induced attractive quantum force between closely-spaced metal or dielectric plates. An elegant analysis by Milonni, et al., at Los Alamos National Laboratory shows that the Casimir force is due to radiation pressure from the background electromagnetic zero-point energy which has become unbalanced due to the presence of the plates, and which results in the plates being pushed together (We will discuss this effect in more detail later when we address the possibility of ZPF energy extraction) Other effects which can be traced back to interactions involving the ZPF fields in a fundamental way include the Lamb shift (the slight perturbation of the emission lines seen from transitions between atomic states the van der Waals chemical binding forces the stabilization of atomic structure against radiative collapse, [15-16] quantum field mechanisms underlying the gravitational interaction and spontaneous emission Zero-Point Energy To understand just what the significance of zero-point energy islet us begin with a simple harmonic oscillator as shown in Figure 1. According to classical theory, such a harmonic oscillator, once excited but with excitation removed, will come to rest (because of friction losses) as shown in Figure a. In quantum theory, however, this is not the case. Instead, such an oscillator will always retain a finite amount of 'jiggle, as shown in Figure b. The average energy (kinetic plus potential) associated with this residuum of motion, the so-called zero-point energy, is given by 2, the field energy dies away, again to a minimum value |