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 just re-read my toot, don’t mean to be rude, what I was replying to in the empty space was, the idea that space is some big void, and empty is a common mis-perception & perpetuated by tv, etc. There’s so much going on!
@Groovyeli Not at all! It's a good point. "Empty space" really isn't.
@JWilliams It’s mind boggling when you think of it, let alone all the things we are not capable of seeing with our limited focal range of light spectrum