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The Casimir Effect

Posted by michael on from the touchy-feely dept.

HobbySpacer writes "A recent article in Physics World provides a lucid description of the the Casimir effect, which is an attractive force between two surfaces caused by electromagnetic fluctuations in the vacuum. The article discusses some practical application such as the nanotech machines mentioned here earlier."

1 of 138 comments (clear)

  1. Re:forces between objects? by dillon_rinker · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    isn't the force two objects excert on eachother called gravity?

    Uhh...yeah...gravity. That's right, kid, it's just gravity. Head back to your classroom, now. I think the teacher's finished reading "Charlotte's Web" and is starting a lesson on decimal addition. Don't worry too much; you'll learn all about gravity when you get to high school. You might even learn about magnetism. /sarcasm
    Seriously...what has happened to science education? I'd read about the four forces when I was in junior high (and there were still four...electroweak hadn't been proved/discovered/demonstrated yet). I knew that magnets had nothing to do with gravity before I was ten. I'm nobody special, so what gives?