The tiny ball in the picture provides proof that the universe will expand forever
The tiny ball in the picture provides proof that the universe will expand forever. The ball, with a diameter of slightly more than a tenth of a millimeter, moves towards the surface, in response to the energy fluctuations of the vacuum. The force responsible for the phenomenon is known as the Casimir effect.
Today there is an accumulation of evidence that most of the energy density in the universe is unknown, and has been called "dark energy". Despite the little insight into the origin and nature of dark energy, the prevailing assumption links it to vacuum fluctuations, of the type involved in the Casimir effect.
At the beginning of the last century, the astronomer Edwin Abel provided observational evidence for the expansion of the universe. This discovery led to insights into the Big Bang, and is at the core of the current cosmological model.
Assuming that the repulsive energy responsible for the Big Bang ceased to operate at the moment of creation, the various analyzes regarding the future of the universe focused on attempts to estimate the amount of matter in the universe, in order to gauge the attractive force exerted by the matter, and the degree of the resulting slowing down of the expansion. With a sufficient amount of matter, there is even a situation where the universe will slow down, stop and contract again.
Observations from the last few years led to the unexpected insight that the discussions about the rate of slowing down are wrong - and for about 5 billion years, the universe has been accelerating its expansion.
Possible models for the expansion of the universe
Dark energy is a term for the source (still not understood) of the repulsive force responsible for acceleration. One of the possible mechanisms for dark energy is based on vacuum energy (=vacuum fluctuations). If indeed this is the mechanism, there is no surprise that the repulsive force "won".
In a universe with a constant amount of matter, the attractive force is also constant. The expansion of the universe (we mean an increase in the amount of "vacuum"), on the other hand, more vacuum energy is spread every moment, compared to the previous one, and as a result - an increase in the repulsive force. In other circumstances, the conclusion that the universe is expected to expand forever is also reasonable.
Casimir effect
Hendrik Casimir, a researcher at the Philips research laboratories in the Netherlands, who predicted in 1948 the existence of an attractive force between 2 conductive plates. Came to the topic following attempts to decipher the slow flow speed of substances such as mayonnaise.
The researchers in his laboratory noticed that the calculation of the intermolecular forces (van der Waals forces) did not match the measured results. Casimir's research led to insight into the contribution of vacuum fluctuations.
An intuitive explanation for the force predicted by Casimir between two conductive plates is as follows: the electromagnetic component of vacuum oscillations in open space involves frequencies in the entire range of values. Between the palettes, on the other hand, there may only be discrete frequency values. The gap between vacuum fluctuations outside and inside the plates - is responsible for the force.
The achievements of recent years in the field of nanotechnology have created an infrastructure with a lot of potential in itself, but also provided a stage for the manifestations of the tiny Casimir effect.
It will come as no surprise that understanding vacuum fluctuations is at the forefront of research both in order to improve the understanding of the universe, and in order to prevent tiny machine parts from sticking together
Sources/for further reading
Astronomy Picture of the Day NASA - 17.12.06
The Casimir effect - its understanding and measurement (Magazine of the European Physical Society)
Casimir effect and nanotechnology at Bell Labs
Dark Energy and the Acceleration of the Universe - Review by Sean Carroll - University of Chicago
7 תגובות
proof*
Is there a wait for the "big bang" theory?
This is really nonsense, it is clear that God created the world!
And there are many who believe that the Torah exists.
So bring a fishing rod from the "Big Bang"
Everything is so clear that it's a shame to exaggerate!!!
The section "... arrived at the topic following attempts to decipher the slow flow speed of substances such as mayonnaise...",
Explains everything - you can continue to research other ingredients such as: hard-boiled egg, hummus and more...
From dilemmas, in the context of the big bang theory:
Hubble's discovery (in the years 1925-1929) that the galaxies in the universe are moving away from each other, and that there is a direct relationship between the distance of a galaxy from us and the speed at which it moves away, created the deduction: that about 14 billion years ago (approximately), all the matter in the universe was concentrated in one small area .
Nowhere is the location of the small area mentioned in relation to the Earth / our galaxy; It also seems that due to our ability to determine the age of the universe (according to estimates from 2004 based on cosmic background radiation analysis, the age of the universe is 13.7 billion years, with a possible sampling error of 200 million years or so.); According to this statement, and our technological and scientific abilities, was it arbitrarily decided that the bang started in the area from which the observable universe can be observed? (ie the Earth), or perhaps one can wonder: if you look towards us from a distance of 13.7 billion light years, you see the same thing, in addition to our distance; Then they will be at the center of the start of the big bang, and if so: the difficulty will arise in all its severity, when we move the radius of the sphere, a distance of 13.7 billion light years, to the earth; Then there will be all the points that make up the area of the sphere's shell, as a possibility for the start of the big bang (there is also the possibility that the earth will be at one of the shell's points, then the universe will have a double distance, that is: 2x13.7= 27.4 light years.
Of course, there are many other issues in the context of the big bang theory, such as Casimir's intuitive reliance, when he and others draw their conclusions from only four percent of all the matter in the universe (as we know: according to the accepted theory, dark matter together with dark energy makes up about 96% of the mass of the universe), and base a theory when nothing is known about the main part (96%) of the mass.
Can someone explain in simple words what is written in the article?
(I went through the review, I didn't have the strength to delve into it, but it sounds fascinating!)
Giant
This is the trophy!
I always suspected it was large scale pressure changes 🙂
Beautiful. Thanks.