Talk:Zero-point energy

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Bell Labs show Casimir force on nano machine

http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/021401/Quantum_effect_moves_machine_021401.html

A very interesting article about the work Bell Labs has been doing to look into the potential problems of "Nano bots" due to zero-point energy.

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"One may query what this has to do with zero-point energy."

Indeed. The very long section "Chaotic and emergent phenomena" seems full of off-topic commentary associated with the article by synthesis. Johnjbarton (talk) 23:36, 25 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Early history

The opening sentence in the history section Zero-point energy evolved from historical ideas about the vacuum. is not supported by Saunders & Brown (1991). It also seems somewhat misleading to suggest that ancient thinkers had any understanding of such a technical concept. While the idea of the vacuum can be traced back to antiquity, zero-point energy is purely modern concept. Given that, do we even need the section discussing early conceptions of vacuum and aether? In my opinion, it would make more sense to begin with Planck. As it stands, Einstein's ideas about the aether and ZPE appear as an isolated example, and the rest of the history section doesn't build on or connect to it. Jähmefyysikko (talk) 15:52, 5 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. I think this first part is conflating zero-point energy with vacuum energy. Any such connection is a modern idea. There is a long history related the nature of "space" and vacuum, somewhat covered in the latter article. I think the content from that part of the history could be merged to vacuum. Sanders/Brown is listed as a Further Reading there. Johnjbarton (talk) 16:13, 5 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]