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Topic subjectOr misread it. But ...
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=22&topic_id=6855&mesg_id=6896
6896, Or misread it. But ...
Posted by osoclasi, Tue Oct-29-02 02:54 AM
>The answers are right there.

Response: I must be misreading it because I don't see him saying that something comes from nothing. Kind of hard to make out some of his vocabulary.(maybe that is my difficulty). Looks like those particles that go in and out of existance come from energy that lies within a vacuum. Like for instance he says:


"Now let's look at the vacuum. Suppose that there is nothing in the vacuum (no matter or radiation at all), according to the HUP there is an uncertainty in the amount of energy which can be contained in the vacuum. On average, the energy is constant, however, there is always a slight uncertainty in the energy, dE. This small uncertainty allows a nonzero energy to exist for short intervals of time defined by

dT = (h/2pi) / dE "

Response: Now is he guessing that there is nothing inside of a vacuum or does he know for sure? Then he says:

"Small uncertainties in energy can actually live for very long times. Because of the equivalence between matter and energy, these small energy fluctuations can produce matter (particles) which exists for a short time and then disappears.
The particles produced in this manner are not arbitary. What happens is that pairs of particles are produced -- a particle and its anti-particle twin are produced. This allows certain properties of the Universe to be preserved. Also, an interesting note is that the particles cannot be measured directly (hence the name virtual pairs) and so no physical laws such as the conservation of energy are seen to be violated! "

Response: He seems to be saying that energy within a vacuum can exist for a long time. ( I am not quite sure what he means by uncertainties of energy however.) But I can recognize that he is saying that energy fluctuates and produces particles. If I am reading this correctly then these particles are not coming from nothing, rather they are coming from energy within a vacuum. Then he says:


"However, these virtual pairs can become real particles. It is found that when there are very high energy photons, that the energy of the photons can be channeled into the virtual pairs and the virtual particles can become real. This process is known as pair production. The collision and subsequent disappearance of a particle/anti-particle pair is known as annihilation. What this means is that if there is a large supply of high energy photons then particles can be created. "

Response: the virtual pairs become real particles when there is a large supply of energy within the vacuum then they come into existance, or they run into each other and disappear.

So it does not appear to me that he is saying that something comes out of nothing. Unless I am reading it wrong.