Two extremely close metal surfaces can undergo an attraction that simply removing the air does not make disappear. The Casimir effect belongs to quantum field physics and depends in particular on the presence of surfaces. The physical vacuum is therefore not reduced to a space without any property.
An experiment described by the American Physical Society in 2001 approaches a small sphere of an oscillating mechanical element. The force changes its oscillation frequency. Varying the distance allows us to observe how this interaction influences the movement of the device.
We must not transform this result into a free and unlimited source of energy, nor imagine a cloud of ordinary particles that can be photographed like dust. The interest is concrete: when a machine becomes very small, negligible interactions on our scale can count in its operation. The space between the components then ceases to be a mere manufacturing detail.
What we know
Measurable quantum effect between surfaces; no unlimited energy production or ordinary materialization of particles is asserted.
To go to the source
References consulted on September 21, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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