"The really fundamental thing turns out to be the quantum vacuum."
Date: Monday, January 03, 2011 @ 11:39:46 UTC
Topic: Science
This is an extract (Chapter 8) from the book "The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead" by Marcus Chown: Mass Medium - Why are loaded fridges difficult to budge? Because empty space impedes them.
It is a very well written, popular-level overview of the topic of quantum vacuum and its connection to inertial and gravitational mass.
"...Perhaps the most mind-blowing consequence of gravitational and inertial mass owing their existence to the vacuum is the possibility of modifying both through modifying the vacuum. If a way could be found to change the vacuum in the right way, it might be possible to nullify mass, making an inertia-less drive that could accelerate a spaceship from a standstill to the speed of light - the cosmic speed limit - in the blink of an eye!"
Read the whole article here: http://www.calphysics.org/articles/chown2007.html
|
|