WEBVTT - Can we use zero point energy? 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:12.200 Energy is everywhere, but yet we struggle to extract. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:13.720 It and make use of it. 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:17.200 It's not just stars burning with fusion or the vast 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:20.960 amounts of energy locked up inside matter. Our current understanding 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:25.040 of space indicates that empty space itself has energy. 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:26.760 Is this real? 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.440 Is this something we can harness on the fringes? There 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:33.640 are people willing to sell you devices that extract energy 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:36.440 from space to make your toast. Should you buy one? 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:40.320 Could that possibly ever be real? Could we use it? 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:43.360 Or might we be trapped like thirsty sailors? 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:46.160 Energy everywhere, but not a drop to use. 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.280 Today in the pod, we'll tackle the conspiracy magnet but 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:55.840 fascinating physics of zero point energy. Welcome to Daniel and 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:57.840 Kelly's Extraordinary Universe. 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:12.520 Hello. I'm Kelly water Smith. 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.280 I study parasites and space, and there are just some 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:18.000 points in the week where I have zero energy. 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:22.240 That's what we're talking about today. 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:24.320 Right, good point? Good point? 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.600 Yes, Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist and I 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.039 have zero energy for physics grifters. 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.920 Oh yeah, So on the topic of physics grifters today, 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:40.880 do you have a like most outrageous grift that you 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:44.280 have ever seen? That is physics related or is it 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:45.559 the one we're talking about today? 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.560 I think zero point energy has gotta be in my 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:52.000 top five. There are actually folks out there who will 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:56.040 sell you over unity machines for fifty thousand dollars that 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.120 you know, produce energy from nothing, and obviously they're scam 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.240 But the thing that really irks me is that the 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.520 real physics here is so interesting, so fascinating, so cutting edge, 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.280 and the grifters pollute all that to make a little 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.040 bit of a buck. They could promote the actual science, 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.120 the mysteries, the things we have figured out, the work 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:18.560 that's going on, the excitement of future discoveries. But no, 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:20.920 they got to pretend the government is hiding something and 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:22.480 they're going to sell you the secrets. 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:27.399 You're such a wonderful nerd. It's not they're taking people's money, 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.240 it's they're missing out on the science. And I'm with you, 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.240 I'm with you. It's a bummer. But you said it's 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.600 in your top five. Can you give us one other 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.640 that's in your top five? I know I'm pressing you. 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.280 This is It's great the way I don't give you 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.000 a heads up ahead of sign before asking you these questions. 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.760 My other favorite one is the alleged grift that physicists 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:52.120 are the grifters because we're just collecting grant money getting rich. 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:53.360 Everybody knows how. 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.400 Easy that is while doing nothing right. We just sit 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:57.160 around all day. 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.720 We could discover dark matter if we wanted to, but 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.320 too lazy because we've been sucking off the government teat 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.560 for so many years, when, of course, in reality, we're 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:09.600 all like scrambling to get a small fraction of a 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:14.320 dwindling amount of research money, and everybody in academia has overworked, 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:18.560 if anything, and underpaid. So it's pretty frustrating to see 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:22.080 people try to make a buck off of accusing academics 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:23.200 of being grifters. 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.240 Yeah yeah, or maybe y'all are just really bad at 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:30.560 the grift, get bad at you know, getting money from 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.359 the government. I can't bring myself to say the sucking 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:35.840 on the government. We'll moving on, moving on. 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.800 That was a farm reference. That was a farm reference. 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:40.760 Yeah, I know, I know, I should be way more 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:45.080 comfortable with that anyway, and my goat still hasn't given birth. 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.000 Those were the farm update. 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.880 No no, no, no, those were like Braxton Hicks contractions and 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.760 goats or something. But she prolapsed and I had to 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:56.400 deal with that, and it's been all kinds. 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.040 Of fun on the farm. But she has not had 0:03:58.080 --> 0:03:58.720 her babies yet. 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.640 Okay, so you won't say, but you will say prolapse 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:02.080 on the air. 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.480 Nice. Your standards are weird, Kelly. 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.600 Yeah, well you know that's right. That's right. 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:14.040 Yay, biology, Welcome to Kelly's farm grift. I don't know 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:15.600 how it works yet, but we'll find out. 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:17.120 Okay, good luck. 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:21.040 I am also working too hard and getting paid. Actually 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:25.440 I'm losing money. I'm losing money on this grift. But anyway, Okay, today, 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:29.160 today we are talking about zero point energy, and as 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.520 Daniel pointed out, there is amazing physics happening here that 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:34.440 really is, and a horrible grift. 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:36.400 So we're going to get into both. 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.640 Exactly, because my goal is to share with everyone the 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.520 actual science going on on the cutting edge, which is 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:46.520 so much more interesting than the nonsense being spread by 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:49.400 the grifters. So let's share the reality with everyone, the 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:53.280 joy of uncertainty, the excitement of future discovery, and zero 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:55.560 point energy is right in the sweet spot because there 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.400 is so much exciting science, so much we don't understand 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.160 about how it works. But before we dig into this episode, 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.280 I wanted to know if people out there thought it 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:09.760 was possible to make use of zero point energy. If 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:12.000 you'd like to join our group of volunteers to answer, 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:15.800 without any preparation, tough physics questions for other people to hear, 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.080 please write to us two questions at Danielankelly dot org. 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.680 We'd love to have you. In the meantime, here's what 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.360 people had to say when they asked them if they 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.000 could make use of zero point energy. 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:31.480 Zero point energy is the lowest energy state. The vacuum 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:35.280 of the universe has some energy in it, and theoretically 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.599 we could use this energy and convert it into useful work. 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:43.600 It could possibly be useful in mechanical quantum systems. 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:46.360 I'm not sure how we can utilize zero point energy, 0:05:46.400 --> 0:05:49.159 as I imagine is basically zero. 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.640 Maybe we can pull some of it out from some 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:56.240 of those hidden string theory dimensions. 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:00.120 The lowest energy possible, so I would say we can 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:00.800 use it. 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.320 In the wonderful animated movie The Incredibles, the villain uses 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:08.480 zero point energy to abduct a baby, so I'm pretty 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:11.359 sure if it can be used, it can only be 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.159 used for evil. We can use it to be super 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:15.440 villains and freeze people. 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:19.159 For inch. Science points to top secret research subject to secrecy. 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.280 But in those places there are also menosteric goats. 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.000 They might solve all of their energy problems, or maybe 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:27.680 it would destroy the universe. 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:32.119 Interesting answers like these always remind me that the Extraordinaries 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.880 are not a random draw of the general public. They 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:39.240 are a very specific group of wonderful human beings with 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.520 very specific knowledge sets who have watched. 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.200 The Incredibles, otherwise known as our favorite nerds. 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.080 That's right, we love the Extraordinaries. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:51.960 It can only be used for evil. I love that 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:57.960 one for Eve. Yeah, but otherwise there's some open mindedness 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:00.960 and also a lot of doubt here that zero point 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:04.400 energy could be used for powering your toaster and making 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:05.040 your breakfast. 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:09.480 Yes, well, our audience is appropriately skeptical and good on them, 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.680 and we will validate their concerns today. 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:15.080 All right, So before we get into the details of 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.520 how zero point energy could be used, I guess we 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.320 should explain what is it and why do we think 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:20.800 it's there? 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.040 I need that, Yes, that would help me. 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.960 So remember that physics operates basically two huge frameworks to 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.960 describe the universe. General relativity to explain gravity and really 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:37.000 big stuff, quantum mechanics to explain really small stuff, and 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:39.440 we haven't unified them, so we don't really understand what's 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:41.960 going on. But every time we do physics we have 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.120 to pick one. We don't know how to bring them 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.120 together and have like a unified description. And today we're 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.200 playing in the quantum world. So put all thoughts of 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:54.240 time dilation and spatial curvature aside for now and think 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:57.440 just about how we describe the universe in terms of 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.520 quantum mechanics. That means, look at the thing next to you. 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.960 It's a cup, it's an apple, it's a remote control, 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.120 it's the dishes, whatever, and think of what it's made 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.600 out of. Tiny little particles. Right, You got upquarks and 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.560 down quarks bound together to make nucleari. You have electrons 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.520 whizzing around them. All that makes your elements. And that's 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:18.400 the particle view of the universe. We don't know what's 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.080 inside those particles yet. If anything, we think maybe there 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.440 is something there, but that's our current most fundamental view 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:26.720 of the universe from a quantum scale. 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.680 Still with me, Yeah, I'm looking at a U spoon 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:31.240 which you used to fix a prolapse. 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:35.640 I'm glad it's not a me spoon, that's all I 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.840 gotta say. 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:45.440 I'm glad it doesn't hurt to laugh anymore. It's so 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.000 much more fun recording with you when it doesn't hurt 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:48.400 to laugh. 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:52.240 And just for clarification, that's an ewe U spoon. 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:52.960 That's right. 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.840 I did use it on a goat, but it is 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:58.840 meant for sheep. 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:04.559 And was that the great experience of all time? Oh? 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:09.120 Oh, I see what you did there? Yeah, I don no, No, it. 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.880 Wasn't it was not. It wasn't great. It's kind of 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:15.600 low on my list. But she seemed real happy when 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:16.200 it was done. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:17.679 Welcome to the Only podcast. 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.320 Well, you'll mix quantum particles with farm references. 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.439 That's right, Okay, all right, we're getting I am now 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.559 imagining the particles in the U spoon and we are 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:28.160 moving on. 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.600 All right, So quantum mechanics can describe the universe in 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.560 terms of these particles. But in the nineteen fifties we 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:38.319 moved on from quantum mechanics of single particles to thinking 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.920 about everything in terms of quantum fields. It turns out 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:43.880 to be really hard to think about more than one 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.920 particle of time and particle destruction and particle annihilation. The 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:51.040 calculations were getting really complicated, and so instead of thinking 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:55.280 about each individual particle and its Shroudinger equation, physicist said, 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:57.480 let's weave it all together and think of it as 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.560 part of one big field instead of having an individual particle. 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.959 You know, have particles as excitations in a quantum field. 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.600 So it's not that there's an electron here and an 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:13.160 electron there. Instead, these electrons are both excitations in the 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.640 same field that fills all of space. And for lots 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:18.480 of people, fields are a weird concept. 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:19.120 What is it? 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.400 Why can't I feel it? What does it look like? 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:23.560 And the way to think about a field is that 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:27.920 it's just a number everywhere in space, like temperature. If 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:29.880 you say there's a temperature in Virginia, and there's a 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.920 temperature in California, and there's a temperature in Brisbane, right, 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:36.440 you're putting a number everywhere on the planet. That's a field. 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.680 Quantum fields are just like that, except sometimes they have 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:43.480 weird numbers like complex values, right, four plus seven I 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.040 or something. But you can just put them everywhere in 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:48.440 space and then use them to do calculations. 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:52.560 Okay, but instead of referring to temperature four plus seven, 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.719 I tells you what about the electron. 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:58.400 Right, So it tells you how much energy there is 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:02.040 in the electron field at one location. Okay, So as 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:05.560 an electron moves through the universe. Instead, there's a ripple 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.520 in the electron field. So a little pulse of energy 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.240 that moves coherently through the electron field. That's what an 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:16.280 electron is from a quantum field theory point of view. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.000 Okay. And so when you say ripple really just means 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.760 how much energy is in one place, and like the 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.480 difference between the energy at one place and the energy 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:27.280 in the position next to it. 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.079 Exactly when you're thinking about waves, you always have to 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.640 think about what is doing the waving, and in this 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.080 case it's the field strength, which takes energy. And so 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.240 you can imagine like I have an electron here in California, 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.760 which means, you know, the electron field is zero everywhere 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.040 except for a little bubble in Irvine where has a 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.000 little pulse of energy where those numbers are non zero. 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.240 And then I send it to Virginia, and now my 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.679 electron field is zero here and there's a little pulse 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:57.200 of electron field strength in Virginia. So that's how you 0:11:57.200 --> 0:12:00.440 think about like one electron in the electron field. Okay, 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:05.040 And one really fascinating philosophical question is are these fields real? 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.280 Like is this the map of the universe that we 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.679 use to describe things. It's helpful to do calculations, it 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:14.600 works for predicting what's going to happen to the large 0:12:14.640 --> 0:12:17.400 hadron collider, et cetera, et cetera. Or are these things 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:19.680 just like shortcuts in our mind. We come up with 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.679 this concept and invent it and it's just useful for us. 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.240 Or are they really out there? It's like a deep 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:27.920 question in philosophy We're going to dig into a little 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:28.360 bit later. 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:29.840 I'm looking forward to that. 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:32.840 And one really I didn't mean it. 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:33.560 I do mean it. 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:38.480 I'm interested in, you know, where metaphors break down? 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:39.559 Okay, on that was. 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:40.880 A look of pleasant surprise. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.760 It was a look of skepticism. I think anyway, go on. 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:48.120 But to get there, we first need to think about 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:51.720 what happens when you take all the particles out of 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.800 the fields. So imagine, first you have a cubic kilogram 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:58.559 of something, you know, like goat cubic kilogram of goat 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.400 all right, and has lots of different particles in it. 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.080 So the quark fields are buzzing. The electron fields are 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.440 buzzing because you don't just have one quark or one 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:09.080 electron gild like ten to the twenty nine, and they're 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:12.160 buzzing everywhere. So lots of energy, right, all right, So 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.760 now remove the goat from your cube of space. 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:20.360 That sounds bad. Sorry, Kelly has. 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:21.920 To put on those gloves that go all the way 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:25.000 up past her elbow, and you know why to do 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.680 this messy job. So she removes the goat from this 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.840 chunk of space. And what's left, well, you know, maybe 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.720 there's a few particles of cosmic race. You build some 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:36.800 shielding so none of them come in the you have 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.640 like a very well shielded box of space. What's left 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:43.560 in there, well, the quantum fields are still there even 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:47.040 if you remove all of the energy. In our description, 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.120 we're not talking about whether they're real or not. In 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.839 our mathematical description, the quantum fields are still there even 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.480 when there's no particle. Right, there's like slots in a 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.200 Connect four game, or they're like places to park even 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.120 without a car, there's still a slot there. To put 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:04.599 your car right. So, the way we think about the 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:08.000 quantum fields, the framework is, you know, there's a lowest 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.920 energy state with no particles. There's a one particle state, 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.200 a two particle state, a three particle state. They can 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.880 describe many particles at once, but they can also describe 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:16.920 as zero particles. 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.360 Okay, so now the value is zero at all of 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.880 those locations asterisk there. 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.400 Oh, there are zero particles there. We're going to get 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.840 in a minute to whether that means there's zero energy 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:30.800 there but there are no particles. 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:31.640 All right. 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.000 But you know, I think in the future the example 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:38.800 should start with there's maybe zero and then you get 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.520 a goat, because then I'm more excited. But then you 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.280 took a goat away, and now. 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:44.120 I'm kind of sad. 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.240 But all right, anyway, Okay, so I I see where 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:49.920 we're going. I under I'm following you. 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.600 Yes, I forgot to think about the complete arc of 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.600 the goat as I'm telling my story. You know, the 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:57.880 goat should have some adventures. You know, you should have 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.640 some challenges it overcomes on its To explain in quantum. 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:03.600 You need to think about the emotional journey that I 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:06.680 go on during this explanation. But anyway, Okay, so I've 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:07.280 lost a goat. 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.120 Carl Jung would be very disappointed in my episode here, 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:12.480 you've lost a goat. 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.840 Don't worry. We'll end up restoring your goat somehow. 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:16.640 Yes, don't forget to get back to that. 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:21.960 So we have these quantum fields and they fill space, 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.920 and we're saying that they're out there. They can describe particles, 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:29.000 but they can also describe non particles, like they can 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.840 describe the vacuum, and that's what we call the vacuum. 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:34.880 When you remove all the particles, now the fields are 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:36.680 down to their lowest energy state. 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:37.440 Right. 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:40.680 Having a particle requires energy, Having two particles more energy, 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:44.720 Having zero particles less energy. So if you take a 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:46.640 chunk of space and you remove all the goats and 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.360 everything else, you have no particles left in there. You 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.680 still have the fields. Okay, okay, and the fields have 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:57.280 a really weird property, which is zero particles don't have 0:15:57.600 --> 0:15:59.000 zero energy. 0:15:58.960 --> 0:15:59.960 All right, that is weird. 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:03.000 Why not because the quantum field itself is now the 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:07.040 thing in the universe. Particles are just like a blob. 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.080 They're an effect of the field, an emergent property of 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.240 the field. The way that like a wave in a bathtub, 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:15.840 is not a fundamental thing. It's an emergent property of 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.400 water and the kinematics whatever. So now quantum mechanics, quantum 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.000 field theory describes the field itself, and the equations of 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:26.520 quantum field theory talk about how that field moves, what's 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:30.560 its kinetic energy, what's its potential energy, And you have oscillations, 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.200 and people who think about wave equations will recognize it's 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.400 like a double differential equation there that tells you things 0:16:36.440 --> 0:16:39.840 oscillate back and forth between kinetic and potential energy. For example, 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:43.000 when you have an electron, there this energy in the field. 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:46.120 The field is vibrating, right, But because this is a 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:50.800 quantum thing, it can't be perfectly determined, and if it 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.440 had zero energy, it would be perfectly well known and 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.000 to be crystal clear. States can have well defined energy 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.520 without uncertainty in their energy. But when the energy is 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:06.560 non zero, the field amplitude and momentum obeys the uncertainty principle. 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:10.879 If the energy is exactly zero, the amplitude and momentum 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:14.640 are both zero, which would violate the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.879 So quantum mechanics demands that the lowest energy state, the 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:22.399 no particle state, is not a zero energy state. So 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.320 the field is still there, it's still vibrating, it still 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.919 has some energy, right, but it doesn't correspond to a 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:33.159 particle particles. A specific kind of vibration of the field 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:35.960 requires a certain chunk of energy. You remove all the 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.679 last particles, you get down to zero particles, not zero energy. 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.960 It's baked into the very fabric of reality. 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:45.159 So one thing that you said really kind of like 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:47.040 stuck in my head, which may have caused me to 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:49.480 miss some of the rest of it. So what's stuck 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.880 in my head was surprisingly not the part about the goat, but. 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.080 Was if something stuck, you can use a use spoon 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:56.200 usually to pull it out. 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:01.520 That's not what the U spoon does, Daniel, and then 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.280 it holds them in place anyway. 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.080 Okay, I'm sorry. 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:09.080 Well I had all these beautiful mental images of Cornta 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:10.840 feels I was going to convey, and now they're all 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:12.800 just replaced with a prolapsed goat. 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:13.399 Yeah. 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.520 Well she's not prolapsed anymore because I put the harness on, 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:18.360 and then I put the spoon in and I tied 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:19.080 it to the harness. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:20.360 And to put on those gloves. 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.879 And what's the sound effect putting on really long latex gloves. 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:25.840 I'm sure Matt has that somewhere in his library. 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:28.680 Well, these were just the short black night trial gloves. 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:30.119 Then they make the snapping noise. 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:33.040 Anyway, what was your question? 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:34.240 Okay? So my question? 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.320 Okay, so you said it can't be zero because if 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:40.239 it was zero, we would know exactly what the value is. 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:48.320 And that feels so human centric like that, that feels 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.639 like this revolt. You know that the humans would know 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:54.880 exactly what the value was, so that can't be the answer, 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:58.320 and like we can't matter that much, and like and so, 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.840 I mean, you know, we believed that everything revolved around 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:03.560 us and it turned out we were wrong, and so 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.160 what is there more to it than that? Or it's 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.160 like I'm putting too much emphasis on us in any 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:12.919 classical object would have what am I getting caught up 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:13.280 on here? 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:14.280 That is incorrect. 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:16.520 No, you're exactly right to put your finger on that, 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:18.399 Thank you. I should have been more clear about that. 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:21.520 It's not us at all. We are irrelevant. It's not 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:25.560 about observers or conscious entities or anything mystical like that 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.359 at all. It's just that quantum objects do not have 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:32.159 a determined state, right. It's about the quantum object itself 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:34.520 and the fundamental nature of the quantum world and what 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.359 is real. So these things that are out there can 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:40.280 be in a superposition of multiple states, right, which gives 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.160 them an inherent fuzziness, just like any quantum particle out 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.639 there can be in various states simultaneously. That's the quantum 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.200 fuzziness of the world. It's not about us knowing something 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:52.840 or us not knowing something, except in the sense that 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.400 it's impossible for us to know certain things because those 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:59.040 things are not determined. They're not part of the universe. 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.680 Reality sort of incomplete in that sense, or our mental 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.480 picture of reality, what we expect from reality comes into 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:09.120 conflict with how reality actually works. So there's just sort 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:12.359 of limitations to how these things can exist, regardless of 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:16.000 whether we know them. Another example that's maybe similar and 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:18.760 easier to access is the puzzle of the electron. When 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:21.639