>On Tue, 17 Dec 1996, Amara Graps wrote:
>
>> The Casimir Effect is a weird quantum mechanical effect that results
>> in a negative energy. It is completely theoretical at this point, I
>> don't think that it has been verified in the lab.
>
>Haven't it been experimentally verified? I seem to recall a mention in
>Robert Forward's _Indistinguishable from magic_ about a successful
>verification experiment, complete with a reference.
Hey you're right! Forward: _Future Magic_, last chapter. The Casimir
Effect is described in there. It was experimentally verified in the 1950's.
Why was I never taught this in quantum mechanics?
Anyway, I don't know what the new result is all about that I
posted the reference for yesterday. I would need to go look up the
paper, then, to find out what's new.
According to my cursory reading of what Forward wrote, the Casimir
force is effective only over nanometer distances.
Aamra
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Amara Graps email: agraps@netcom.com
Computational Physics vita: finger agraps@best.com
Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/
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