Physicists are planning to build lasers so powerful they could rip apart empty space
@JWilliams that’s a bit scary. Btw, just where is space empty?
@Groovyeli The "empty space" in this story refers to a vacuum. Normally, pairs of "virtual particles" pop in and out of existence even in an area completely evacuated of atoms.
However, near the borders of black holes, and in situations with sufficient power applied (e.g. hyper-intense lasers focused on a small area) the particles can be separated before they annihilate each other.
@JWilliams theoretically
@Groovyeli Yep. Though the theory -- Quantum electrodynamics -- is among our most successful physics theories. In fact, if it were wrong, quantum mechanics would probably not hold up as a theory in the first place.
@JWilliams I’m not saying it’s wrong, but they are learning a lot (lab vs life)