The Casimir Effect and the Force Between Contemplatives - Why Two Silent People in a Room Change the Physics of the Space

In 1948, Hendrik Casimir predicted that two uncharged, perfectly conducting parallel plates placed very close together in a vacuum would experience an attractive force. The force is not...

In 1948, Hendrik Casimir predicted that two uncharged, perfectly conducting parallel plates placed very close together in a vacuum would experience an attractive force.

The force is not electromagnetic - the plates are uncharged. It is not gravitational - the plates are too small for gravitational effects to matter.

The force is produced by the quantum vacuum itself.

The vacuum between the plates can sustain fewer virtual particle modes than the vacuum outside the plates because the plate separation constrains the wavelengths that can exist between them.