"The zero-point energy cannot be harnessed in the traditional sense. The idea of zero-point energy is that there is a finite, minimum amount of motion (more accurately, kinetic energy) in all matter, even at absolute zero. For example, chemical bonds continue to vibrate in predictable ways. But releasing the energy of this motion is impossible, because then the molecule would be left with less than the minimum amount that the laws of quantum physics require it to have."
Answer posted on July 28, 1997
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Add CommentCan you update this article and provide some information on these two gentlemen? They have been doing research in this field for some time and were awarded a patent in May.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.calphysics.org/Patent7379286.pdf
https://www.cu.edu/techtransfer/about/newsreleases/2007/Fall2006_poc_winner_announcement.html
Yes, I agree with BillT.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan you please update this article or maybe write a new one?
Here is just a thought. There is inherently "energy" in space, as there is energy in the exhaust of a jet as it travels through the atmosphere. Is it collectible and usable? Not on a safe scale. The problem would be that you may create an energy void at the point of collection, or the path as it may be. Thus changing the dynamics of the local ZPM. Reducing the local ZPM to a true Zero state or it theory worse, creating a true void that may affect space/time itself. Yes this is a stretch, however it is not within out grasp yet to even theorize what may happen to the "space" that we draw any usable energy from, if there is any there to "collect".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you think of the ZPM as surface tension, as in water, what happens when you disturb the tension? A ripple in a puddle is one thing, a ripple is the spacial dynamics of the solar system, or the galaxy. Where is the science to support the naysayers on this. There is not any. We as a species have not come far enough to meddle in space/time with out KNOWING the consequences BEFORE we "poke the bear with a stick".
If you throw out size and look at things on a equal scale. How much "empty" space, relativity, is there in an atom, compared to a solar system, galaxy, or universe.
It all comes down to humanities definition of scale. There in no truly empty space yet there is also not much of anything in that space either. Like Quarks or string theory, scale is the only thing that is a variable. The rest is a given , that we are trying to find the right math to calculate.
"The next step is to realize that the electromagnetic field can be thought of as an infinite collection of coupled oscillators--one at each point in space."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, I think this statement is a little bit false. As I understand the quantization of the electromagnetic field, in a certain sense you can see it as an infinite number of harmonic oscillators (each one with a different frequency), but neither are they coupled, nor do they exist in "real" space. Rather, it is just a a formal analogy to such a system of harmonic oscillators, which helps you doing the actual quantization step.
I was initially skeptical that you could every harness <a href="http://www.discoverzeropoint.com">zero point energy</a> products until I went to a demonstration of a new product that did exactly that. Go to http://www.discoverzeropoint.com to find out more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVacuum energy is ether and produced at common spherical boundary of our matter and outside antimatter universe on opposite entropy path and injected into our universe to cause expansion and gravity. So vacuum energy total is ever increasing and not zero. Please read the theories of durgadas datta published in ASTRONOMY.NET in year 2002. --durgadas.ddatta@gmail.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo understand zero point energy it is important to have a handle on qutum gravity at the smallest scale. this also suggest it will be very difficult to ectract energy from inherent space-time energy. See: The formulation of harmonic quintessence and a fundamental energy equivalence equation. Physics Essays 23:311-319
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