4 ms·
NASA suspects the thrust comes from "quantum vacuum virtual particles". These literally come from nowhere and would be the balance in the conservation of moment
by gilgoomesh 12y ago
NASA suspects the thrust comes from "quantum vacuum virtual particles". These literally come from nowhere and would be the balance in the conservation of momentum. See Casimir Effect or Hawking radiation for examples where quantum vacuum virtual particles have an effect.
- XorNot 12y agoBoth of those conserve momentum. Black holes receive the momentum from their Hawking radiation (but in normal space are generally spherical - it's been proposed a 1000kg black hole might be able to be balanced and fed in a reaction chamber to give thrust), and the Casimir effect conserves momentum because it acts equally on the conductive plates but in opposite directions. The problem here is where are they getting the thrust from and what mechanism is causing virtual particles to become real? And where in the energy for that coming from? Because you're paying not just KE but also the rest energy cost to make them real with Hawking radiation.
- cratermoon 12y agoQuantum Vacuum Virtual Plasma: http://xkcd.com/1404/ http://xkcd.com/1404/