I bought a Cassimir Effect toaster and now I never buy bread. I push down the lever, the wires get hot, and two minutes later up pops a piece of toast and a piece of anti-toast, courtesy of the quantum foam. I eat the toast and throw the anti-toast out in my yard. Anti-birds gotta eat too.

Empty space may not be all that empty after all.

QED must be right. It's even got QED as it's initialism.

If Schrödinger had used a parrot instead of a cat we could say it was just resting.

I love how your electron has a positive charge

01:08 shows the effort (the funny letter from a curious soul) put in by the team of Dr. Lincoln, Ian Krass and Fermilab, in each and every video, to explain the complex concepts in an engaging and comprehensible way! Keep it up!!

I studied physics at a university in chicago, im so close to fermilab and argonne. This channel always presents high level grad physics so well. I hope to be able to get a job there!

Nice. Thanks for posting. It's a travesty that Fermilab doesn't have more subscribers your videos are always fascinating and packed with information that's very simply and directly presented.

Here after the discovery, congrats!

I really appreciate that this guy's videos make the subject material understandable to the unwashed masses like myself, yet he doesn't treat you like a child and talk down to you or wave his hands like we need to be constantly stimulated.

Watching this video today (04.11.21) is pretty cool! Congrats Fermilab!!!

I've always heard of the double plate experiment but I never really understood it. This video explains it really well. Thanks!

The fundamental building blocks of our universe are made from the foamy head of a pan-dimensional cosmic beer. I like this idea.

Excellent presentation! Physics was my most favorite subject of my primary and secondary school years.

Awesome video bites; many many thanks to Fermilab and Dr. Lincoln for some great informative entertainment!

Very enlightening and entertaining VDO clip. Now, when I am looking at the bubbles in my Paulaner beer glass, I will always think of your VDO.

Binging Dr Lincoln again, always so interesting! There is also a video on the excellent 60 Symbols channel on the Casimir Effect that is quite good and complimentary. 60 Symbols is one of the channels from the University of Nottingham (so you know its real science... sometimes the algorithm suggests woo-woo...)

PLEASE update this. Its been five years. What did the LHC find?

Fermilab please, let me know when you write a book about quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, easy and direct as your videos. Great contribution for non-physicist interested in the topic. Thanks

Glad this popped up in my feed in light of the news now in 2021 of the G-2 experiment hitting 4.2 sigma. It still might fizzle but 5 sigma confidence is closer. I'd also like to hear about the impact (or lack thereof) on the quantum foam on the clarity/crispness of the Hubble images. Did that ever get figured out?

Excellent series of talks. Thank you so much.

Does this mean space is fluid and gravity is created by mass displacing space. What happened the fluid dynamics on a quantum level. Is the universe a bubble foaming expanding in to nothing? What is the viscosity of space if it is acts like a fluid? If space a Newtonian like liquid or Non?

This damn good channel should be reciving 100* views. Good work guys.

@Fermilab Thanks so much. Could you please explain (for non-expert people in simple conceptual words), why energy conservation law is not violated in the Casimir effect? Thank you

Finally, you guys did an interesting video/content worth watching.

Dr. Lincoln: Can you give us an update on the G-2 Experiment? If there is already a video, please tell us the link. I see others have asked this same question more or less.

I will never look at my beer again, without thinking about: getting virtually drunk :) GREAT VIDEO!!!

What's the update video to this video? Was the muon experiment carried out successfully?

Love your videos! So it's not just in deep space or vacuum then -- quantum foam and virtual particles occur everywhere, including, say, in the "empty" space around every nucleus and electrons of the atoms we're made of, even inside protons/neutrons and around every elementary particle, is that correct? If so, could a virtual positron pop up right next to an electron and live long enough for the two to annihilate each other? Not sure if "right next to" makes sense, I guess it would be that the probability wave of one intersects with the probability wave of the other so that there is a nonzero probability they could get annihilated. (That's my layman understanding.) But either way, could electrons spontaneously disappear and energy spontaneously be formed b/c of the quantum foam? Thank you. Also what software package do you use for the animations? Thanks!

U may never look at foam same way again. This statement reminded me of Dr. Walter Lewin saying u never look at 🌈 same way again. Appreciate ur ability to make the common this special by attaching such a deep insight to it. Awesome work.

Sub-atomic particles dont actually spin the same way that macroscopic ones do. They dont physically spin around on their "axis". Its a very difficult concept to understand, since theyre not really particles at all, or tiny bits of "something". Theyre field quanta, excitations of the underlying respective field. Electrons have the electron field, quarks have their own field, photons too and so forth.

Great video. I'm reading A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence Krauss, and I got to a section that talks about Virtual Particles. I thought I had a pretty good grasp of the concept, but this video helped me understand it better and elaborated on the experiments and data which shows us proof of their existence (well, proof as good as we can get atm). One thing I'm a little confused on though: Are virtual particles and quantum foam essentially the same thing, just worded differently?

Can the magnetic strength, charge and spin of an electron reveal anything about the diameter of an electron? I'm thinking of the dipole moment having a physical analogy as in angular momentum where the radius of the spinning object or system is part of the calculation.

Seriously? no comments? This is a fantastic video! come on people, share and comment!

Wow, that was awesome. No technical and complicated words, easy understanding even for a non native english speaker like me. Thank you.

If we zoom into a not empty space, the foam is still there? Or the foam is exclusive to empty spaces?

Watching it in 2021, and being able to confirm the Muon thing is still a hot topic.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Einstein come up with the quantized photon in 1905 in his Nobel prize winning paper on the photoelectric effect? QED successfully combined quantum mechanics, a MUCH more fleshed out theory than what Einstein wrote, one of his other famous 1905 papers, the one explaining special relativity. ( Technically 2 papers, E=mc2, a convergence on SR, was proven in a separate paper during Einstein's "Miracle Year" of 1905).

I wish that instead of using the word "nothing" science would use the word "chaos" to name the quantum foam.

Seems to me it’s more accurate to say, rather than things are created from “nothing”, that everywhere there are fields which randomly undulate in various values and when these perturbations are great enough we perceive them as small particles. So “nothing” doesn’t exist, all that exists are things that momentarily look like nothing because they are temporarily at close to zero value in their field strengths so nothing is detectable. “Nothing” is just slightly calm spots in a turbulent ocean.

When you say the predicted matches the experiment how would you exactly model the behavior of virtual particles? Like density, wavelength, lifespans exactly??

Dr. Lincoln, thank you for your plain language explanation that allows the average person to get a basic understanding of quantum foam.

how can there be quantum foam and the quantum fields of QFT? Which is it? Or do they both exist? If so, which is the most fundamental, which is at the smallest planck scale?

In the Casimir effect experiment, the two plates move towards each other, conserving momentum. But, where does the energy come from? When the two plates move towards each other, they gain kinetic energy. Does this mean we can extract energy from the quantum foam?

amateur here, does the Casimir effect accounts for gravity, even that is very weak at those masses and scale?

What about the paralelisms between modern physics and eastern philosophy?? Dr Lincoln, I'm a big fan! These videos are a great contribution to humanity itself!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Someone please create a picture of a cup of universe topped with quantum foam.

Very interesting and informative yet again. Love watching these videos (they're getting funnier too).

Excellent as always!

Is there an update on this? 🙂

I was always under the impression that quantum foam refers to the discontinuity of spacetime (instead of it being smooth and continuous) rather than to it being another name for virtual particles. Could you explain, please?

Answering to the theory debunking mails is now part of your job description

Absolutely love this channel.

Coffee came out of my nose when I saw your letter spoof. Nice!

So you're saying that when you have literally *nothing*, antimatter and matter creates itself and then annihilates into nothing and then repeat?

Dr. Don Lincoln, I'm curious now, so this is about particles coming in existence and then annihilating each other again, quarks and anti-quarks. What is the difference between this phenomenon and mesons, which are a quark anti-quark pair? Is Quantum chromodynamics not an issue here? or is just a gluon missing ? How does the universe know, that for the phenomenon of particles coming in and out of existence, it's not supposed to create quarks with the opposite color charges, because otherwise we would get mesons. Or is it the gluon that prevents the quark anti-quark pair from annihilating each other? This is really confusing! Are mesons always the same quark antiquark pair? or is it possible to have mesons with an up quark and an anti strange quark for example?

Yet another excellent video.

They should have picked Don Lincoln to narrate Cosmos 2 instead of Tyson. Great video as always! Can't wait for the next one.

Brilliant as always. Thanks a lot.

but doesent the 2 plates also have their own gravityfield which attracts each other instead of just casimirs reason?

Please help: why do virtual particles (matter-antimatter pairs) cause the evaporation of black holes (by the antiparticle, for instance falling into the black hole and annihilating with another particle) if the energy release cannot escape the black hole?

So....? What's the news on the Muon thing at Fermilab? Any progress yet?

In case of two glass panels put together. Is the force glueing the panels together: a) electron veils interaction of the panels b) ”vacuum” between the panels c) Casimir-effect?

Dr, Don Lincoln - As your coat blocks the full view , I am always curious to find out what is written on your T-shirt. At the end of every lecture session - can you please explain in full view - the scribbles on your T-shirt. Thanks.

Just curious, how do you know the Cassimir effect is due to space or due to the plate cohesion?

Both Matter and Energy described as "Quanta" of Spatial Curvature. (A string is revealed to be a twisted cord when viewed up close.) Is there an alternative interpretation of "Asymptotic Freedom"? What if Quarks are actually made up of twisted tubes which become physically entangled with two other twisted tubes to produce a proton? Instead of the Strong Force being mediated by the constant exchange of gluons, it would be mediated by the physical entanglement of these twisted tubes. When only two twisted tubules are entangled, a meson is produced which is unstable and rapidly unwinds (decays) into something else. A proton would be analogous to three twisted rubber bands becoming entangled and the "Quarks" would be the places where the tubes are tangled together. The behavior would be the same as rubber balls (representing the Quarks) connected with twisted rubber bands being separated from each other or placed closer together producing the exact same phenomenon as "Asymptotic Freedom" in protons and neutrons. The force would become greater as the balls are separated, but the force would become less if the balls were placed closer together. Therefore, the gluon is a synthetic particle (zero mass, zero charge) invented to explain the Strong Force. An artificial Christmas tree can hold the ornaments in place, but it is not a real tree. String Theory was not a waste of time, because Geometry is the key to Math and Physics. However, can we describe Standard Model interactions using only one extra spatial dimension? What did some of the old clockmakers use to store the energy to power the clock? Was it a string or was it a spring? What if we describe subatomic particles as spatial curvature, instead of trying to describe General Relativity as being mediated by particles? Fixing the Standard Model with more particles is like trying to mend a torn fishing net with small rubber balls, instead of a piece of twisted twine. Quantum Entangled Twisted Tubules: “We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct.” Neils Bohr (lecture on a theory of elementary particles given by Wolfgang Pauli in New York, c. 1957-8, in Scientific American vol. 199, no. 3, 1958) The following is meant to be a generalized framework for an extension of Kaluza-Klein Theory. Does it agree with some aspects of the “Twistor Theory” of Roger Penrose, and the work of Eric Weinstein on “Geometric Unity”, and the work of Dr. Lisa Randall on the possibility of one extra spatial dimension? During the early history of mankind, the twisting of fibers was used to produce thread, and this thread was used to produce fabrics. The twist of the thread is locked up within these fabrics. Is matter made up of twisted 3D-4D structures which store spatial curvature that we describe as “particles"? Are the twist cycles the "quanta" of Quantum Mechanics? When we draw a sine wave on a blackboard, we are representing spatial curvature. Does a photon transfer spatial curvature from one location to another? Wrap a piece of wire around a pencil and it can produce a 3D coil of wire, much like a spring. When viewed from the side it can look like a two-dimensional sine wave. You could coil the wire with either a right-hand twist, or with a left-hand twist. Could Planck's Constant be proportional to the twist cycles. A photon with a higher frequency has more energy. ( E=hf, More spatial curvature as the frequency increases = more Energy ). What if Quark/Gluons are actually made up of these twisted tubes which become entangled with other tubes to produce quarks where the tubes are entangled? (In the same way twisted electrical extension cords can become entangled.) Therefore, the gluons are a part of the quarks. Quarks cannot exist without gluons, and vice-versa. Mesons are made up of two entangled tubes (Quarks/Gluons), while protons and neutrons would be made up of three entangled tubes. (Quarks/Gluons) The "Color Charge" would be related to the XYZ coordinates (orientation) of entanglement. "Asymptotic Freedom", and "flux tubes" are logically based on this concept. The Dirac “belt trick” also reveals the concept of twist in the ½ spin of subatomic particles. If each twist cycle is proportional to h, we have identified the source of Quantum Mechanics as a consequence twist cycle geometry. Modern physicists say the Strong Force is mediated by a constant exchange of Gluons. The diagrams produced by some modern physicists actually represent the Strong Force like a spring connecting the two quarks. Asymptotic Freedom acts like real springs. Their drawing is actually more correct than their theory and matches perfectly to what I am saying in this model. You cannot separate the Gluons from the Quarks because they are a part of the same thing. The Quarks are the places where the Gluons are entangled with each other. Neutrinos would be made up of a twisted torus (like a twisted donut) within this model. The twist in the torus can either be Right-Hand or Left-Hand. Some twisted donuts can be larger than others, which can produce three different types of neutrinos. If a twisted tube winds up on one end and unwinds on the other end as it moves through space, this would help explain the “spin” of normal particles, and perhaps also the “Higgs Field”. However, if the end of the twisted tube joins to the other end of the twisted tube forming a twisted torus (neutrino), would this help explain “Parity Symmetry” violation in Beta Decay? Could the conversion of twist cycles to writhe cycles through the process of supercoiling help explain “neutrino oscillations”? Spatial curvature (mass) would be conserved, but the structure could change. ===================== Gravity is a result of a very small curvature imbalance within atoms. (This is why the force of gravity is so small.) Instead of attempting to explain matter as "particles", this concept attempts to explain matter more in the manner of our current understanding of the space-time curvature of gravity. If an electron has qualities of both a particle and a wave, it cannot be either one. It must be something else. Therefore, a "particle" is actually a structure which stores spatial curvature. Can an electron-positron pair (which are made up of opposite directions of twist) annihilate each other by unwinding into each other producing Gamma Ray photons? Does an electron travel through space like a threaded nut traveling down a threaded rod, with each twist cycle proportional to Planck’s Constant? Does it wind up on one end, while unwinding on the other end? Is this related to the Higgs field? Does this help explain the strange ½ spin of many subatomic particles? Does the 720 degree rotation of a 1/2 spin particle require at least one extra dimension? Alpha decay occurs when the two protons and two neutrons (which are bound together by entangled tubes), become un-entangled from the rest of the nucleons . Beta decay occurs when the tube of a down quark/gluon in a neutron becomes overtwisted and breaks producing a twisted torus (neutrino) and an up quark, and the ejected electron. The production of the torus may help explain the “Symmetry Violation” in Beta Decay, because one end of the broken tube section is connected to the other end of the tube produced, like a snake eating its tail. The phenomenon of Supercoiling involving twist and writhe cycles may reveal how overtwisted quarks can produce these new particles. The conversion of twists into writhes, and vice-versa, is an interesting process, which is also found in DNA molecules. Could the production of multiple writhe cycles help explain the three generations of quarks and neutrinos? If the twist cycles increase, the writhe cycles would also have a tendency to increase. Gamma photons are produced when a tube unwinds producing electromagnetic waves. ( Mass=1/Length ) The “Electric Charge” of electrons or positrons would be the result of one twist cycle being displayed at the 3D-4D surface interface of the particle. The physical entanglement of twisted tubes in quarks within protons and neutrons and mesons displays an overall external surface charge of an integer number. Because the neutrinos do not have open tube ends, (They are a twisted torus.) they have no overall electric charge. Within this model a black hole could represent a quantum of gravity, because it is one cycle of spatial gravitational curvature. Therefore, instead of a graviton being a subatomic particle it could be considered to be a black hole. The overall gravitational attraction would be caused by a very tiny curvature imbalance within atoms. In this model Alpha equals the compactification ratio within the twistor cone, which is approximately 1/137. 1= Hypertubule diameter at 4D interface 137= Cone’s larger end diameter at 3D interface where the photons are absorbed or emitted. The 4D twisted Hypertubule gets longer or shorter as twisting or untwisting occurs. (720 degrees per twist cycle.) How many neutrinos are left over from the Big Bang? They have a small mass, but they could be very large in number. Could this help explain Dark Matter? Why did Paul Dirac use the twist in a belt to help explain particle spin? Is Dirac’s belt trick related to this model? Is the “Quantum” unit based on twist cycles? I started out imagining a subatomic Einstein-Rosen Bridge whose internal surface is twisted with either a Right-Hand twist, or a Left-Hand twist producing a twisted 3D/4D membrane. This topological Soliton model grew out of that simple idea. I was also trying to imagine a way to stuff the curvature of a 3 D sine wave into subatomic particles. .

Would Quantum tunneling account for measurement differences in Casimir effect, though few these events are happening all the time, if time even matters at this point? Also do we know what the percentage is of the quantum foam to everything else or is the Q.F. at this level everything? Wait, Wait...Strings...thank you so much,I'am waiting for Rovellis book on subject Q.F.

The only thing I'm pretty sure he got wrong is that physicists think of the foam in *real* beer, not root beer.

Great video. This brings up a question in my mind. Since all the energy/matter in the universe existed, in some form, at the big bang, and expanded to form this gigantic universe with inflation, it is not possible to add anything in the way of energy or matter to what is "already there" in some form. As we now know, space is expanding at an accelerating rate, making the most distant galaxies recede from us faster and faster . So, the question is: as space itself rapidly expands, does the rate at which virtual particles pop in and out of existence in any given volume of space remain constant everywhere? If so, there would have to be many, many more virtual particles appearing than there were just a tiny fraction of a second ago. Yes, they all add up to zero by cancelling each other out, but many more of both matter and anti-matter virtual particles are existing now, even if just for a trillionth of a second, than there were a second ago, due to the expansion of space. So, it would seem that something is being added to the universe that wasn't there before. How is this explained?

For a particle traveling through the vacuum, can it entangle with the virtual particles it interacts with? Can they in turn entangle with other virtual particles and leave a memory like a spreading wake of the real particles state. I ask due to curiosity about the double slit experiment. If a particle were somehow interacting with everything within some radius around it, couldn't that look like a superposition?

Question - if you could actually zoom to 10^-35 wouldn't that be much smaller than the size of virtual particles? That image of light blobs popping in and out representing virtual particle pairs would be something you would "see" around 10^-18...? At 10^-35 you would be seeing blobs of space-time not proton clouds. I thought at that scale the only possible particle would be the hypothetical graviton?

As far as Casimir effect is concerned, what about the reinterpretation of that phenomenon as an effect of Van der Waals forces between the metal plates?

Can’t the Casimir effect be explained by the gravitational attraction between the two very very closely spaced metal plates?

Great video!

ah yeah I emailed peter shor about quantum entanglement that might be a way of saying discrete quantum unfairness as a form of entanglement or states, in terms of focus entanglement of light through lenses that are half silvered or silvered by some amount on either side.. maybe it's a way of saying not answering or building a wall. but it is interesting in terms of vectors or space as a means of describing entanglement. but there seems to be a sort of time dependent accuracy of measuring the vector of a laser drawing a line across the moon at the speed of light, which has to follow the speed of light limitation in reconstruction time for the data acquisition. what does that say about quantum uncertainty and is there any possibility that light or neutrinos can interact with the quantum vacuum in ways that are not detectable until the information is allowed to arrive?

But what about in between the particles? Is there some kind of field or is it just completely empty?

Can we get more units/mathematical explanations? Especially around the 7:30 mark

How does the idea and the visualization of quantum foam change if you are embarking in the subject from the perspectiva of string theory?

Good explanation

Everything we see is just atoms specifically electrons masked by photons. Our bodies are made of atoms masked by photons, so my next question is what are our minds and thoughts made of? Maybe some array of particles or energy fields we haven't discovered yet. My next question is our awareness or consciousness, is it a whole other array of particles within a field or is it just some sort of self feedback loop. An environment checking itself with a vehicle(our body). If you read this can u please explain if there are any ongoing research or theories about these questions so I can research them on my own or perhaps you can make a video about them. Thank you in advance.

And the g-2 experiment results after 2016? What are they?

So! Perhaps... all thought, memories, awareness and consciousness, which we think arises in the mind actually is something that manifests out of quantum foam. What's your thoughts?

I don’t think I’m very smart at the moment to understand the equations or most fancy vocabulary words but this fascinates me a whole lot :)

1:02 Really, is your house number the (closest-integer) reciprocal of the electromagnetic coupling constant? ;)

also, how does the Casimir effect prove both negative (exotic) matter and antimatter?

Maybe the answer to my question is hidden somewhere below, in which case I apologise for wasting your time. My question has been bugging me for quite a while and I did pose it to a particle scientist .... who had no answer. Quantum foam is real, it's filled with virtual particles, but they are real, even though only for a (very) short period of time. My simple question is "what is the mass of this quantum foam?" If quantum foam has mass, the Casimir effect shows that macroscopic boundaries have an effect on the mass within the boundaries and thus physical boundaries influence the property/properties of quantum foam. The point I want to make is that the properties of the quantum foam can be influenced. A black hole distorts space/time. Might this distortion act on and influence the properties of the quantum foam? Like the macroscopic boundaries in the Casimir experiment. Now, what if mass/gravity indeed has an influence on the properties of quantum foam, might it explain dark matter/energy?

If I'm not mistaken, photons are the force carrier for electromagnetism. But under what class of particle do the fall under?

How exactly has the magnetic field of the tau been measured?

maybe it good be helpful an update or a comparison of the accuracy of gravitational waves measurments against QED measurement for the magnetic moment of the electron :)

Excellent video. Really informative. One thing non scientists who think a theory is false or true; fail to realise that scientists would give anything to prove a theory wrong or right. From it, Science progresses. The best day a scientist can have, is the day he finds a flaw, or proves a theory. It's what they live for. To think otherwise, means you don't really understand the way science works. :)

6:20 that doesn't convince me. What about gravity? isn't that pushing them?

Great video but it'll be even greater if you come up with a better audio.

Does quantum foam have its own kind of thermodynamics? With properties analogous to temperature, pressure, entropy, specific heat, etc?

[05:31] With respect to the coefficient of force and potential called the Casimir Effect, what is the coefficient called due to second-order Madelung efficiency of local-field positive and negative components, electrons and holes, quantum-jockeying for position in (inter)atomic structures-that causes such to sort-out and align more strongly in favor of attraction...?

it is 2018 so what is the result of the g-2 experiment?

hey I was wondering, I heard that when anti particles meet with particles, they annihilate and a lot of energy is released. If that's what always happens in empty space, how come things are so calm?

“The answer to the ancient question 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' would then be that ‘nothing’ is unstable.” ― Frank Wilczek

"I'll wait while you process that last sentence" Hey! I need more time than that!

I think i will start to translate your videos. They are awesome!

I always get a smooth shave with Quantum Foam