Casimir effect

1. The effect of a net attractive force between objects in a vacuum, caused by quantum mechanical vacuum fluctuations creating radiation pressure. The radiation can be thought of as an atmosphere of virtual particles. The amount of radiation pressure on the objects is decreased in the gap between them, due to limits on the wavelength of the radiation in the gap. The gap is thus an area of lower radiation pressure, drawing the objects toward it. This force is strong enough to be of great importance at scales encountered in nanotechnology. The Casimir effect is named after Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir (1909–2000).

Example Sentences

The attractive force, known as the Casimir effect, causes the gold flakes to draw closer together and toward the substrate.

Read more on Science Daily

To date, no one has proved that the Casimir effect works in high-temperature superconductors, but the scientists are betting that it does.

Read more on Scientific American

One example is the Casimir effect, predicted by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir in 1948.

Read more on Scientific American

That vacuum fluctuations and virtual particles exist has been widely accepted at least since the Casimir effect was demonstrated.

Read more on Scientific American

To verify that virtual particles interact with gravity like normal matter, the Archimedes team members want to use the Casimir effect to weigh virtual particles with a simple beam balance.

Read more on Scientific American