Why Do Two Mirrors Attract in Empty Space?

Get 5% off all Radiacode devices and accessories with the code VYKLF9JK at https://radiacode.com/100-series or Amazon. Radiacode – the world’s first series of pocket-sized radiation detectors and spectrometers engineered for all natural science enthusiasts What happens when you place two mirrors opposite each other in a perfect vacuum? Remarkably, quantum field theory predicts that they will attract one another, even in the absence of any external forces. First predicted by Hendrik Casimir in 1948, this extraordinary phenomenon is known as the Casimir effect. In this video, we explore the physics behind this mysterious force, from electromagnetic waves and quantum zero-point fluctuations to the apparently infinite energy of the vacuum, before deriving the Casimir force step by step from first principles. Sources and References H. B. G. Casimir (1948), "On the Attraction Between Two Perfectly Conducting Plates", Proceedings of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, 51, 793–795. https://dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00018547.pdf M. J. Sparnaay (1958), "Measurements of Attractive Forces Between Flat Plates", Physica, 24, 751–764. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-8914(58)80090-7 S. K. Lamoreaux (1997), "Demonstration of the Casimir Force in the 0.6 to 6 μm Range", Physical Review Letters, 78, 5–8. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.5 G. Bressi et al. (2002), "Measurement of the Casimir Force Between Parallel Metallic Surfaces", Physical Review Letters, 88, 041804. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.041804 S. K. Lamoreaux (2007), "Casimir Forces: Still Surprising After 60 Years", Physics Today, 60(2), 40–45. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2711635 R. L. Jaffe (2005), "Casimir Effect and the Quantum Vacuum", Physical Review D, 72, 021301. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.72.021301 Reviews, explanations and further reading E. Elizalde and A. Romeo (1991), "Essentials of the Casimir Effect and Its Computation", American Journal of Physics, 59, 711–719. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.16749 A. Lambrecht (2002), "The Casimir Effect: A Force from Nothing", Physics World, 15(9), 29. https://doi.org/10.1088/2058-7058/15/9/29 E. Buks and M. L. Roukes (2002), "Casimir Force Changes Sign", Nature, 419, 119–120. https://doi.org/10.1038/419119a T. H. Boyer (2002), "Casimir Forces and Boundary Conditions in One Dimension: Attraction, Repulsion, Planck Spectrum, and Entropy". https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0211109 S. K. Lamoreaux (2005), "The Casimir Force: Backg