There's an infinite amount of energy locked in the vacuum of space-time. Could we ever use it?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
There may be an infinite amount of energy locked in the vacuum of space-time. So could we ever harness this energy for anything useful?
The idea of vacuum energy comes from quantum field theory, which is a marriage of quantum mechanics with Einstein's theory of special relativity. In quantum field theory, particles are not really what we think they are. Instead, they are better represented as fields, which are quantum entities that span all of space and time. When a localized patch of the field gets sufficient energy and starts traveling, we identify it as a particle. But the real fundamental object is the field itself.
In quantum mechanics, any system has a defined set of energies, like the energies that an electron can have in its orbital shells around an atomic nucleus. Similarly, the quantum fields have energies associated with them at every point in space. Any finite volume, like an empty box, contains an infinite number of geometric points, so this means there's an infinite amount of energy in that volume.
This happens even when the fields are in their lowest energy state possible, also known as the zero-point state or the ground state. This is the state with no extra energy added to it, no extra vibrations, no extra excitations whatsoever — just the lowest possible ground state, below which there is nothing. But due to the fundamental uncertainties of quantum mechanics, even this ground state has an energy associated with it, so you still run into an infinite amount of energy.
However, we can't extract energy out of the vacuum and use it to do work. That's because whatever its value is, it is the lowest energy state possible for the universe. To get work done, you have to transfer energy from one state to another. But if you could somehow "pull" energy out of the vacuum, there would be no place to put it, because no matter what you do, you are still surrounded by a vacuum. It's like drawing water out of the bottom of a dry well: There's nothing left to give.
Another way to look at it that is completely compatible with the field portrait is via the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which states that you can never know both the energy of a particle and the duration of its existence with a perfect degree of precision. This means that at the ground state or zero-point state of the universe, particles can temporarily pop into existence, "borrowing" energy from the vacuum, as long as they disappear in a short enough time to return that energy back.
If you were to pluck out one of these particles and make it permanent, that would violate the Heisenberg uncertainty principle because you borrowed energy from the ground state without giving it back in time.
These particles are known as virtual particles. They are the manifestation of all the fundamental energies of the quantum fields that permeate space-time.
RELATED STORIES
—Here's how the universe could end in a 'false vacuum decay'
—Is the vacuum of space truly empty?
—10 mind-boggling things you should know about quantum physics
The bottom line is that no matter what the zero-point energy is, it's the background of the universe on top of which all of physics takes place. Just as you can't go lower than the ground floor of a building with no basement, you can't get lower than the ground state of the universe — so there's nothing for you to extract, and there's no way to leverage that into useful applications of energy.
So, unfortunately, any work you do in the universe will have to be done the old-fashioned way.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
12-mile-tall volcano on Mars punches through clouds
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A bit after sunrise on June 6, 2025, NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter saw one of Mars' biggest volcanoes, Arsia Mons, as it broke through the clouds. The volcano is the cloudiest of the Tharsis volcanoes, a trio that is tightly aligned on Mars' surface. Standing at over 12 miles (20 kilometers) with a diameter of 270 miles (450km), Arsia Mons is nearly twice as high as Mauna Loa, Earth's largest volcano, which sits at 6 miles (9 kilometers) from the seafloor. Due to its height, Arsia Mons is often covered by clouds that form when expanded air that was blown up the sides of the volcano rapidly cools. These clouds can be especially thick during aphelion, a period where Mars is farthest from the sun in its orbit. Clouds that form during this time at the planet's equator are known as the aphelion cloud belt, according to NASA. Arsia Mons is the southernmost volcano in a trio called the Tharsis Montes, or the Tharsis mountains, which are located in Mars' western hemisphere near its equator. The alignment of the Tharsis volcanoes suggests that a large fracture may have been responsible for the eruptions that formed all three volcanoes, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). To the northwest of the group stands Olympus Mons, the biggest volcano in the solar system, at 16 miles (25 kilometers) high. Because of its cloud cover, Arsia Mons has been hard to photograph. This new image from NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter gives a first-of-its kind view at the peak of the volcano. The picture is also the first time any of the three Tharsis volcanoes has been captured on the horizon, offering a similar perspective as what astronauts see from the International Space Station when they view Earth, according to NASA. Unlike other regions of the planet, the clouds that surround this volcano are made of water ice, which remains in Mars' atmosphere most of the year. In fact, the Martian atmosphere contains more water vapor than the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, according to JPL. Other areas of Mars contain dust storms made of carbon dioxide clouds. Studying these cloud formations helps experts to better understand how storms form and occur on the Red Planet. You can read more about Martian volcanoes and cloud storms as scientists dive further into the features of our planetary neighbor.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
See a young star potentially giving birth to a giant planet in new image from Very Large Telescope
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Researchers have captured a mesmerizing image of what they believe to be a giant planet forming in the orbit of a young star, according to a new study. The image, taken with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, shows the star surrounded by an eye-shaped disk of swirling gas and dust. A dark ring within the disk suggests that the gravity of a newborn planet, likely a gas giant, is accumulating material as it carves a path around the star. "We are talking about a fairly massive planet here, a few times the mass of Jupiter most likely," study lead-author Christian Ginski, a lecturer in the physics unit at the University of Galway in Ireland, told Live Science in an email. "It clears out a gap as it orbits because material falls down onto the planet. One might almost think of the planet like a hoover in that sense sucking up all the dust." This could be a rare example of a planet detected while still in its infancy. Ginski and his colleagues released a simulation of the potential giant exoplanet within the disk and hope to confirm its presence using the James Webb Space Telescope in the coming months. The researchers posted their findings Monday (June 9) to the preprint database arXiv, with the paper accepted for future publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Related: Ginormous planet discovered around tiny red star challenges our understanding of solar systems Ginski and his colleagues are trying to learn more about the diversity of planetary systems and the forces needed to create a solar system similar to our own. They do this by seeking out young stars, which could be actively giving birth to new planets. Ginski noted that while researchers have detected several thousand planets around distant stars, these are all quite old. "We are basically looking at the meal after it is fully cooked," he said. "Young planets inside their forming disk help us to understand all the ingredients and how they interact with each other. So far we only have 1 confirmed such planet in its infancy and 2-3 more candidates which are not fully conf[i]rmed yet." The young star at the center of the new image is named 2MASSJ16120668-3010270, or 2MASSJ1612 for short, and is located 430 light-years from our solar system. A 2024 study noted the presence of a gap in the star's disk, so researchers already suspected that there could be a planet forming there. In the new study, 2MASSJ1612 was viewed in scattered near-infrared light for the first time, revealing previously unseen details, including two spiral arms emanating from the center of its disk. Ginski explained that the arms form because the planet is perturbing, or altering the disk, as it moves, creating what are known as density waves. He likened this effect to the ripples created by throwing a stone in a pond. RELATED STORIES —James Webb telescope spots 'groundbreaking' molecule in scorching clouds of giant 'hell planet' —James Webb telescope discovers frozen water around a distant, sunlike star —Scientists reveal 'most promising yet' signs of alien life on planet K2-18b "The stone is perturbing the water, sending out waves, somewhat similar to the planet in the disk," Ginski said. "Now think about the stone skipping over the water instead of just plunging into it. Ever more complex wave pattern are the result. In the disk, where the planet circles around the star, this leads eventually to the formation of these spiral patterns." Ginski noted that he has observed around 100 young star systems and that researchers typically find either the carved-out ring or the spiral structures, but in this case, the images revealed both — as theoretical models of planet formation predict. He said he felt like "a kid on Christmas morning" when he first saw the images. "Basically it appears we may be looking at an absolute textbook case here," Ginski said. "So that makes us think that we can predict what kind of planet is in this disk, and we think it should be one that we can actually take an image of with the right equipment (which is why we secured follow-up time at the James Webb Space Telescope)."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
SpaceX launches Starlink satellites to orbit on 70th Falcon 9 flight of the year (photos)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The year isn't even half over yet, and SpaceX already has 70 orbital missions in the books. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 26 of SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday (June 8) at 10:20 a.m. EDT (1420 GMT; 7:20 a.m. local California time). It was SpaceX's 70th Falcon 9 launch of 2025. Fifty-two of those flights have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation in low Earth orbit (LEO), the biggest satellite network ever assembled. About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9's first stage landed on SpaceX's Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean. It was the seventh launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. The rocket's upper stage continued carrying the 26 Starlink satellites to LEO, deploying them as planned about an hour after liftoff. The newly launched spacecraft will now maneuver their way to join the megaconstellation, which consists of nearly 7,700 operational satellites (and counting). Related stories: — SpaceX: Facts about Elon Musk's private spaceflight company — Starlink satellites: Facts, tracking and impact on astronomy — SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 28 Starlink satellites to orbit on record-breaking 28th flight (video) SpaceX has certainly been busy so far in 2025, but it's still 100 launches away from its goal: Company representatives have said they aim to fly 170 orbital missions this year. The 70-launch tally does not include the three missions of SpaceX's Starlink megarocket that have taken place in 2025. Those suborbital test flights lifted off in January, March and late May.