What is Zero Point Energy, and How Could It Change the World

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Our desire to grow and expand as a species drives us to seek more powerful energy sources. In fact, everyday researchers and scientists try to figure out ways to avoid the eventuality of energy shortage.

What is Zero Point Energy and How Could It Change the World

While they’ve come up with feasible solutions like the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power, some solutions seem outright farfetched, like cold fusion and zero-point energy. However, if possible, they have the potential to change human civilization as we know it.

In this short piece, we discuss what zero-point energy is and how it can change the world.

What is Zero-Point Energy?

What if we could collect energy out of thin air? Remember how you learned in school that a vacuum is made of space? Well, that’s far from the truth.

If you dive deeper into the world of quantum physics, far beyond molecules, atoms, electrons, and protons, you will discover subatomic particles. Unlike single particles, these constantly fit between different energy states.

This means that a vacuum is not empty as initially perceived. It comprises virtual particles that constantly pop in and out of existence. But perhaps the interesting part about these particles is that their quantum fluctuations generate lots of energy. Hypothetically, if we can harness this energy, we can advance beyond the limits of our imagination.

Despite its complex and spooky name, the zero-point energy is basically ground state energy or vacuum energy. Nonetheless, it’s hard to determine how much energy the vacuum holds or can produce.

According to theoretical physicists Richard Phillips Feynman and John Wheeler, the vacuum of space hold infinite amounts of energy. If we could tap it, even a small cup would be enough to boil all oceans on Earth.

In quantum mechanics, you can only determine a particle’s behavior by observing it. What’s interesting, even if you accurately determine its position, you still need to find its momentum. This is referred to as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The principle confirms the existence of Zero-point energy. We just haven’t discovered a way to harness it.

How To Collect Zero-Point Energy?

Now to the cool part. If you’re a fan of science fiction movies, then you know that space is freezing, but not absolutely zero cold. The vacuum of space is more than 270°C ( -445°F). For the successful transmission of vacuum energy, a colder source is needed to receive it. But as for now, our technology cannot support the extraction of this energy.

Furthermore, to pull the energy from thin air, we need to reduce zero-point energy in one region of space. Thermodynamics says the universe would try to fill that energy hole, and we could interfere and harness the vacuum energy.

In fact, this might be possible with the Casimir effect. This is where you bring two conducting plates very close together. This will cause a percentage of the subatomic particle to get excluded from them. The plates cut off certain frequency modes between them, thus lowering the vacuum energy in the region. Consequently, the resulting pressure difference generates a measurable force, pulling the plates towards each other.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean we can create a Casimir engine. Why? To pull continuous energy, the plates need to be pulled apart again, which requires the same amount of energy as initially gained.

Casimir Effect – The possibility of Zero Point Energy

How Could Zero Point Energy Change the World

Sure! As far as our technology goes, zero-point energy will remain a theory. But what if we fast forward to the future, where technology has caught up and we can extract vacuum energy? What would vacuum energy mean for the world?

One answer! Unlimited energy, whether free or not.

With this energy, we could enjoy free public transportation, all of us could drive electric cars, and everyone (even people in third world countries) could have access to innovative technology.

Non-renewable energy sources like oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear energy would become obsolete. Even renewable energy like wind and solar power would become things of the past.

But perhaps the most sensible application would be space exploration or travel. With access to unlimited energy, spacecrafts would travel at light speed, and we can explore planets that seem light years away.

There are several groups that have pitched the idea of manipulating Zero-point energy to create potential energy for spaceships. One group from NASA’s Eagleworks Laboratories even claims to have successfully designed and tested a Quantum Vacuum Plasma Thruster. Leveraging the Casimir effect, the machine generates a new form of propulsion. However, there’s still a need for more experimentation to confirm the viability of the device.

We could even establish mining colonies in space to mine minerals like gold, titanium, silver, and others from asteroids. And if that’s not enough, we could terraform planets like mars and others to create suitable living conditions for humans. Eventually, we can relocate a portion of the earth’s population to these planets as we clean up the damage we’ve inflicted on the earth.

But when we have something in excess, we are bound to overuse it. The same applies to zero-point energy. While the earth will be free from fossil fuel emissions, chances are we will face new threats from vacuum energy consumption. For this reason, we will need governments to intervene and regulate the use of zero-point energy.

Conclusion

Zero-point energy exists throughout the universe, but some scientists believe it’s nearly impossible to extract any usable energy from it. While some physicists have successfully generated force using vacuum energy, to tap into its full potential, we need efficient machines. But such technology doesn’t exist.

However, a breakthrough could mean an unparalleled source of energy to drive humanity to the next step of civilization. Think of free medical care for all, free transportation, unlimited power, space travel, and much more. The applications are endless. But as of now, zero-point energy remains a theory. Whether it will become a practical energy source, only the future can tell.

References

Written by The Original PC Doctor on 21/10/2022.

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