Blog Note: Been a while. I was always meant to explore Cosmology and Blackholes before moving into this direction. But a moment of inspiration brought me here instead. As such, when I convert these to a proper dedicated page the chapters might be changed, or not add up. (that’s if I move in that direction).
A New Discovery – Vacuum Energy, Zero Point Energy, and the Casimir Effect
Anyone that follows my random, sporadic silly physic theory, you’d know that though I do have a physics education, it’s basically limited to the bachelor level. And that I studied that many, many years ago (so many I don’t like thinking about it), so it’s also pretty fuzzy these days.
But I still love my physics, and still enjoy pondering and learning new things.
And today I learnt something new. I learnt about the Casimir Effect … which in turn meant I learnt about the Zero Point Energy, and in turn lead me to Vacuum Energy, Something I only really knew on the most shallow of levels … I probably should’ve known about Zero Point Energy too, but perhaps I was daydreaming in that lesson at uni. But the Casimir Effect is 100% new to me.
And learning about all of this has brought on pure excitement. Because … well … I believe it fits in with my idea! (again, take this with grain of salt. As I’m no mathematician, so all my “it works” moments are just me, thought experimenting and picturing these things together).
First, lets explore (very basically) what these concepts are.
Vacuum Energy might be a bit beyond me. In quantum terms it’s the background energy that permeates all of space. If you removed every particle of matter from a region of space, that space would still exert energies. It is basically made up of virtual properties that pop in and out of existence. The universal sum of all these particles/waves/fields is supposed to cancel out.
Zero Point Energy, is a form of Vacuum Energy. It is the lowest energy any particle can possess. In classical mechanics there is a point of absolute zero. We measure this as -273.15 °C (Or 0 Kelvin). But on the quantum level nothing can be certain, and because of that, energy cannot be zero. So particles must have a minimal energy.
The Casimir Effect: This triggered my mini revelation so I’ll come back to a further down in this blog.
A Quantum Unification?
I’ve wanted to explore bringing my theory to the quantum level for a while. I just didn’t think there was enough to warrant a chapter. And what I wrote would’ve been complete speculation without anything to speculate it with. (Okay, it’s all speculation but when you have something tangible to bounce ideas off to see if it breaks apart or holds, it makes it a tiny bit more plausible). The Casimir effect has allowed that.
But before moving onto that, I want to explore what I think my idea would look like on the quantum scale. Remember, this is just imagining stuff and very well might shift and change over time. (as of writing this on the 22nd of August, 2025)
Do I think it’s all connected? That all the forces, and everything can be roughly joined together in a single concept? Short answer. Yes.
The propagation of the gravitational field. As I’ve stated (but probably poorly named) is that the gravitational field is part of the space-time continuum. Why I renamed this? Probably because at the time I didn’t realise that they could be the same thing.
But it is a medium that permeates all of space. The ether, if you’d like. And it sets the limit on everything. The electromagnetic spectrum (ie photons) is a propagation within this field. This shows us the uttermost top velocity that can achieved. The elasticity of this field is what limits everything. Likewise. The effects of gravitation are limited to this restraint. A body of mass distorts the field, creating an inward pressure, and the removal of that mass would cause that field to elastically return to normal, at the rate of speed of light.
We know that all matter is energy. It’s where we get the famous E=mc2equation. The mass times the speed of light squared.
But (and this is the pure speculation part on my part) what is that mass? Moving down to the quantum scale, I see that mass as a vibration of the gravitational field that is somehow caught up in itself. So instead of propagating through the field at c (like a photon does), it’s twisting in on itself. I sometimes ponder if it is a knot in the gravitational field or some kind of stable corkscrew-like movement (like a whirlpool in the ocean). But ultimately I see it as a weird twisting of the fabric of space that can’t untwist (or has a probability (Decay) associated with it unravelling).
Each fundamental particle is a kind of knot or bound vibration in the fabric of space. The mass comes from the gravitational field being twisted and/or knotted up within it. pulling a little bit of the gravitational field (or spacetime) from its neutral state into a smaller area.
Back to Casimir:
I admit, I didn’t really understand the significance of the Casimir effect at first. So don’t be troubled if you don’t understand it either … or, if I got it wrong please let me know. Here’s a video, that might explain it way better than me:
So, the Casimir effect occurs when we bring two objects really close to each other (I mean REALLY close, the most distance for the effect to occur is around 5nm (if I got that right), so, really, really close.
If we try to bring together two plates parallel to each other (all the internet has conflicting points on said plates. Wikipedia says charged plates, but a lot of other sources say non-charged plates – I don’t know which, so will remain unlabelled to avoid muddying the waters further). Anyway, these plates will reach a point where they’ll be pushed together (And we’re not talking about gravitation, which doesn’t have an impact on the quantum scale with the theories we have).
The reason they are pushed together isn’t confirmed. But one of the two main theories (the other being the Van der Waals Force) is because of zero point energy, ie the virtual particles popping in and out of existence. The thing about these virtual particles is that they exist in an infinite array of types. As such they have an infinite range. And in quantum mechanics we view particles as a wave and a particle. So these “phantom” particles have wave properties and can exert a force.
When you bring the plates closer and closer together, the vacuum-particles with larger wavelengths cannot form within that area, there’s just not enough space. So the objects existing between the two plates are limited to their wavelength that can fit in between. But the larger particles are still appearing, they’re just appearing outside the plates. That means that they’re exerting all their force from outside, no longer balancing it out from both the outside and inside. This creates a pressure on the outside that wasn’t there before, and the plates experience a force bringing them together.
Sounds familiar doesn’t it? If you look at my Theory, in Chapter Two: Two Body System the concept is the exact same phenomenon. We’ve just moved the same process from massive bodies such as planets to the quantum world.
So, with my theory. The Casimir Effect is a consequence of gravitational density. But whereas the macro-verse is affected by variance in Gravitational Density that causes the attraction. The quantum world is too small to be affected by this. The Gravitational Density does not have the variation required to bring masses together. Any density fields produced doesn’t have enough/strong enough overlap to draw objects together.
That is … until you go smaller! To the point where particles are now too BIG and start affecting the system again. The imbalance has returned.
The two plates coming together is caused by the ground state of the Localised Gravitational Density Value between the plates dropping! While the density outside it remains the same.
Note: Localised Ground Gravitational Density Value is just a renaming of what I’ve been calling the Ground state of the Gravitational Density. After realising it most likely would vary depending where in the universe you are. It is the minimal field density of a system. Example: a solar system sitting inside the galaxy’s gravitational field density is uniform across that solar system. Measuring the lowest density from the furthest points on the system should read the same level. (ie, tidal forces exerted by the outside gravitational density would be negligible for that enclosed system, so can be ignored).
The difference with the gravitational field on the macro-scale is that while the gravitational field is trying to return to its ground state by exerting a pressure inwards, the Casimir Effect is when a hole is punched in that ground state. It has become a weak point that is not equal to its surrounding area. What was once neutral pressure on all sides of the plates is now larger on the outside, so gets pushed in. And as it gets pushed in, there is less room for virtual particles to form, so the gravitational density falls further. Meaning it would get stronger and stronger as the plates get closer and closer. Just like gravitation.
Conclusion:
This implies there are three states of the gravitational density’s influence on its surroundings.
- The first state is the macro state. In which the mass of objects is large enough that the distortion of the gravitational field causes masses to come together.
- The Second state is the higher micro state. Where the gravitational distortion of masses is too small for them to create large enough localised density sphere of influence, so matter isn’t drawn together through gravitational forces.
- The third state is the lower-micro level. Where the proximity of objects is so close that the objects can’t form in between, making the ground state of gravitational pressure higher outside then inside, creating a well that will bring objects together.
Review:
Non-mass particles are a vibration within the Gravitational field. The elastic properties of the field are what create the galactic speed limit.
I postulate that mass is just a vibration that is in a twisted loop and/or a knot within the Gravitational Field. The distortion/knot within the field takes up some of the length of the field, pulling everything slightly inwards. This is “mass”.
The Casimir Effect closely resembles the distorted gravitational field on the macro scale. Where the gravitational density draw those masses together. The difference being that on the scales of the Casimir Effect, instead of an increased pressure from the field trying to return to a neutral state, on the quantum level a “Well” is created, where the localised gravitational density drops below it’s localised density state, causing the forces outside to push inwards.
Question/Things to ponder:
Does this pose a possible bridge to other quantum phenomena? Can the strong forces and colour charges be explained using gravitational density wells? Or am I just upping my crack pot level?
