Can someone explain in bog standard layman's terms english what is the Casimir force?

Question

Please no fancy university jargon.

Answer 1

Casimir Force is basically friction. thats it..

Answer 2

Okay, I'm not sure this is correct, but this is my best understanding.

When you put two large, perfectly flat, metal plates very, very close to each other in a vacuum, they'll feel an attraction to each other. That's the Casimir effect.

It's an effect of quantum mechanics. It arises because the "vacuum" is never really completely "empty," but instead consists of particles and fields that continually pop into and out of existence (this is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics).

Here's the part where I get hazy. Apparently, these particles normally disappear before they have a chance to affect anything. But if they appear between the two metal plates, they may reflect back and forth between the plates for a while.

Now, all the particles have different wavelengths. This means that some of the particles (depending on their wavelength and the distance between the plates) may "resonate" as they reflect. If you know what a "standing wave" or "constructive interference" are, this is basically what these particles do.

Other particles (with different wavelengths) will fail to resonate (i.e., they result in "destructive interference"). Again, this is a function of the distance between the plates compared to the particles' wavelengths.

The resonating particles produce a slight pressure which tends to push the plates apart. The non-resonating particles tend to cancel that pressure out.

Now, apparently the same sort of thing is going on on the outside of the plates too, with "virtual" particles exerting a slight pressure pushing the plates together. It turns out that, because of the resonance thing going on inside the cavity (the space between the plates), the virtual-particle pressure on the outside is a tiny bit greater than the virtual-particle pressure within the cavity. The result is that the plates are pushed toward each other, so it looks as though there's an attractive force between the plates.

Answer 3

According to Quantum Physics wave particles of differing lenghts are constantly poping in and out of existance. While they are fleeting they still create a base pressure gradient if you will for empty space.

This can very easily be envisioned as a mildly choppy surf.

Imagine now two boats on a this choppy surf. As the boats move closer together larger more energetic waves are excluded from existing between them. Smaller less energetic waves still exist between the boats but, the diffrence in energy on the outside of the boats is greater than the energy between the boats. Thus the boats are drawn to each other due to the overall pressure gradient difference. The closer the boats (plates) the smaller the waves that CAN exist between them, while outside everypossible size of wave still exists crashing into the boats (plates).

(you can actually simulate this with some tea and some floaty toothpics rather nicely; just make sure the tea isn't too hot and of course you need to create some gentle waves)

Answer 4

First of all, the Casimir force is not well understood, and can be used to cause small objects to float, or to stick together like superglue. It is similar to static electricity (which can do the same tricks) but much, much more powerful.

It deals with what happens when two objects are braught very, very close together. On the smaller than atomic scale, the quantum scale, objects aren't really solid, but moving, kind of like a whirlpool or series of twisters. It's possible for two twisters to combine to create a much bigger twister, but its also possible for two twisters spinning in opposite directions to repel each other.

You could also see this sort of like clockwork gears, such as in a transmission. When the gears come closer together, they can grind, or they can lock smooth.

Answer 5

particles popping up out of nowhere, is what I thought, I look forward to better answers.