Matter. Part 3. Vacuum. Bashny.Net

Here we go again! Again, we hasten to disrupt sleep the average humanist, who, if he thinks about the world, it was only when he sees the starry sky, the evening went out to the balcony to smoke. Those who have followed our subjects, naively believed that an educational program about the matter we're done. And here and there. We have not talked about the last form of matter that is known to science - about vacuum. Yes, there is nothing, a vacuum - a matter which will wipe your nose to the other two types of its mystery.
Images from Google's attached. Exaggeration and inadequate allegory guaranteed.

12 pictures.





1. Technically, the vacuum is highly rarefied gas in which the molecules of the gas and not immediately revealed. In theory, the vacuum - the space free of substance. That is not only free from the real matter, such as stars, planets, humans, molecules, atoms, protons and electrons, as well as from the energy forms of matter, such as electromagnetic and gravitational fields, without photons, gluons and other bosons.



2. And then there are the physical vacuum. About him we'll talk. Even in the vacuum space almost everywhere "dirty" any matter, whether it is the background radiation or gravitational field, or the Higgs field, or dark matter, be it not be fine.
But, for example, in an atom between the electron and the nucleus a lot of empty space. If we imagine that the tennis ball is the nucleus of the atom, the electron closest to the nucleus will be flying in the appropriate proportions at a distance of one and a half kilometers.

Or an empty space between the quarks inside the proton. In this case, various kinds of radiation can be neglected, since the wavelength of the radiation over subatomic distances, and we get primerchik pure natural physical vacuum. Void as it is.

The figure - cherry nucleus of an atom, and the perimeter of the stadium - the distance to the nearest electron.



3. But the trouble. Quantum physicists began to ask uncomfortable questions such vacuums. Let us try to present these questions popular.
Imagine a piece of space in which there is a little of the electromagnetic field, and which is, as we know from previous lectures, of photons. Well, for clarity, for example, we have in this field three fotonchika. If we were to remove a single photon, any quantum physicist will tell you that we have just reduced the energy field on a quantum, transferring it to a lower energy state. It is common, for example, in the atom when an electron loses a photon and "falls" to the level below.
Then we'll take another photon, again lowering the energy state of the field. And then take away and the last - the third photon. According to the laws of mathematics there is nothing left. Zero. But according to the laws of quantum physics turns out that the field remains, but in a state with the lowest possible energy.

So, for example, look like the diagram of the energy levels of the electron in the emission and absorption of a photon (not quite on topic, but suitably pictures not found).



4. Thus, quantum physics, looking at the vacuum state that is not empty, and matter with the lowest energy. It seems nonsense. But it is. Next worse. Quantum laws give us another condition: we can not know exactly the same time two parameters of the particle (Heisenberg uncertainty principle). How is it - do not ask - can in future articles we will discuss the laws of the quantum world in detail.

In the meantime, check it out the problem: it turns out that the presence of the field with the lowest strength you can safely say that we know at the same time two parameters with absolute precision. Namely, in this field, we know the number of photons in the number zero and the value of the field strength of nil. All: quantum physics, it seems, is a forest. This is a very absurd arguments for the ordinary world is actually normal for the world of the quantum. They have their own atmosphere.



5. Scientists thoughtful. And catapulted this idea that all humanity is divided into those who understand quantum physics and those who do not believe in it (which we are now trying to fix). They stated that the uncertainty principle is maintained in a vacuum, because at the microscopic level for the most minimal intervals vacuum is not empty, but a real field with particles and energy.

These particles are called virtual because they never registered anyone. It turns out that ever born in a vacuum and then annihilate a plurality of pairs of particles and antiparticles, such as electrons and positrons, neutrinos and antineutrinos, etc. with different arbitrary energies. This hot water is called a quantum, or the space-time foam with quantum fluctuations and draw something like this.



6. It turns out that at the same time vacuum is released and absorbed a lot of energy, but on average, according to the law of conservation of energy, vacuum energy is zero.
Such an idea had far-reaching consequences. It turns out that the vacuum is theoretically contains such deposits of energy that are not dreamed of even the most massive objects in the universe. If we could divide the vacuum on the matter and antimatter, we would have enough energy to surplus until the end of the world, and more than once.

Moreover, little idea picked astrophysics and others who deal with the problems of birth and formation of the universe. First, it turns out that unless the "nothing" you can squeeze the substance, then not very much and need an initial matter / energy for the production of the universe (God's will again overshadowed, yeah).
Secondly, the vacuum energy is successfully explained some of the darkest moments in cosmology. For example, the theory of the power vacuum perfectly blended into the problem of too rapid recession of galaxies (the bottom line is that galaxies run up faster than predicted by the theory of relativity, but in the presence of fluctuations in the vacuum problem is solved).
Third, and we wrote about this, Hawking managed by vacuum fluctuations to explain how black holes evaporate (now you can read the subject as a person understands what he reads LOL)

In the picture three-dimensional projection of the quantum fluctuations, as if we were stopped time and zoom. That is close to the vacuum is matter, and with a non-uniform density. On the Internet you can find an animation with the process.



7. Well, you might say, for example, the joke failed. But this is still not confirmed by experiments little idea of ​​mad scientists. Indeed, quantum fluctuations are so small and fleeting, that we will never be able to register them due to quantum restrictions and the law of conservation of energy.

Yet there is confirmation. For example, the Casimir effect. Incredibly strange effect in our macrocosm, which scientists have predicted in 1948 and experimentally discovered in 1965, is actually existing, and legs grow from the depths of matter.



8. Now we will explain what it is on the fingers. The phenomenon, something similar to the Casimir effect was observed more sailors when their ships placed close to each other. If the sea was at this time is not easy, the ship began to converge, and this created a real problem of collisions sides. Such that the sailors were ordered to the whole team to push apart the ships.
The ships approached because the pressure of the waves on the outer side of the ship is stronger than internal - between ships because the sea is calm.

The same thing happens if we put in a vacuum close (in the distance, measured in microns) two surfaces, for example, two metallic nano-plate. And what do you think? - Records will be attracted.

The attraction is because the pressure of virtual particles between the plates (where a certain number of whole waves due to the limited distance) is less than the pressure of these particles on the outside (where the waves of any length and energy as much as necessary).

What a twist! So zhezh except Casimir effect, there is also the so-called The Lamb shift of atomic levels, which is also due to the fact that an electron generates virtual particles (skip the explanation, and then boil the brains of even the most persistent). That is, they (vacuum virtual particles) exist!

Moreover, the Casimir effect creates real problems Near spacecraft in outer space. Just as when something like a phenomenon faced by ships at sea.

Another picture from the Casimir effect.



9. Should be noted that the case is even worse than we talk. At the deepest level of matter, inside said vacuum "boiling" is not only virtual particles, but also the space itself begins to break into pieces, it has distortion and fractures. There are theories that these gaps are holes in the parallel space or simply "wormholes" in nearby galaxies.
All this makes physicists slowly go crazy and write crazy theories with a lot of mathematics (greetings from superstring theory).



10. Alas, its mystery vacuum affects immature minds, and every other self-respecting freak after refuting the theory of relativity necessarily create his own theory of the vacuum. If you type in a search engine the phrase "vacuum theory", that adequate information on the vacuum because you simply will not find. Thorns Garyaev, Churlyaevy and other - must tell you that Einstein - Jew, Niels Bohr - crazy, Collider - a divorce on the headstock, the Higgs boson is of the devil, and the physical vacuum is Live! For example, one "gukuum" Churlyaeva worth something - and people just do not know the fundamentals of physics. We hope that readers of Yap had at least a C grade in school science, and would defend an adequate search for the truth.

In the picture - a spherical horse in a vacuum. Popular science joke.

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11. That's all. At the request of readers, we have forced myself to open LJ shechku where we store these topics for those who do not want us to lose among the abundance of accordions.
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As usual, under normal ratings, we will continue educational program on Yap.
All good, fewer wars, more than strings!