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How To Build a Quantum Propulsion Machine
KentuckyFC writes "According to quantum mechanics, a vacuum will be filled with electromagnetic waves leaping in and out of existence. It turns out that these waves can have various measurable effects, such as the Casimir-Polder force, which was first measured accurately in 1997. Just how to exploit this force is still not clear. Now, however, a researcher at an Israeli government lab suggests how it could be possible to generate propulsion using the quantum vacuum. The basic idea is that pushing on the electromagnetic fields in the vacuum should generate an equal and opposite force. The suggestion is that this can be done using nanoparticles that interact with the vacuum's electric and magnetic fields, generating the well-known Lorentz force. In most cases, the sum of Lorentz forces adds up to zero. But today's breakthrough is the discovery of various ways to break this symmetry and so use the quantum vacuum to generate a force. The simplest of these is simply to rotate the particles. So the blueprint for a quantum propulsion machine described in the paper is an array of addressable nanoparticles that can be rotated in the required way. Although such a machine will need a source of energy, it generates propulsion without any change in mass. As the research puts it with magesterial understatement, this might have practical implications."
Einstein had a theory about changing mass...are they saying they might have licked the problem of relativity?!
What problem? Unification with quantum mechanics?
My UID is prime. Hah!
The terminology of the summary could certainly be improved a bit. The author defines a "quantum vacuum" early on as a vacuum that has electromagnetic waves present, then refers to the "quantum vacuum" as "the vacuum" through the rest of the article. The author should really have repeated the term "quantum vacuum" throughout, or chosen a better term (purified EM field?) to make it clear exactly what he/she was referring to.
The EM fields within the quantum vacuum are technically what would be providing the force, not the entirety of the quantum vacuum itself. The interesting part is that the EM fields can push in a specific direction, while seemingly having nothing to push against.
The issue with the theory is that it violates the Newtonian rule of conservation of momentum. This is, in effect, saying that you can have a force in one direction without an equal and opposite reaction. But quantum physicists claim to be able to bust Newtonian laws all the time, so we'll see how this one pans out. :)
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