The universe we exist in is one hot pot of entropy fuzzing with energy fluctuations and continuous conversion between different forms of energy/matter. No matter how far we reach out in space or how many times we zoom into matter, mankind’s efforts to find perfect nothingness has been futile.
Empty space as we know it, is not really empty. The vacuum is seething with energy and particles that flit into and out of existence in very small intervals of time. Even in the depths of interstellar space, there is plenty going on in the quantum realm. This brings us to the hypothesis of a proposed ‘Energy of Nothing’ or Vacuum energy. Note that this is not Dark energy, even though both of them try to explain the same thing and we completely understand neither of them. Dark energy would require a whole different article dedicated to it.
Having its fundamental principle based on Heisenberg’s energy–time uncertainty principle, vacuum energy is underlying background energy that exists in space throughout the entire Universe. Initially added and then removed by Einstein in his theory of General relativity, the cosmological constant (usually denoted by the Greek letter lambda: Λ) is a representation of vacuum energy, or simply the energy density of space.
Now if there was all this energy lying around and if by any chance we could get energy out of nothing without violating the First Law of Thermodynamics, why hasn’t it been done already? According to John Baez, a mathematical physicist known for his work on spin forms in loop quantum gravity: “One thing I can say is that I sure hope it doesn’t work, because if you could extract energy from the vacuum, it would mean that the vacuum is not stable. For normal physicists, the definition of the vacuum is that it’s the lowest-energy situation possible—it has less energy than anything else.” In short, Baez says that while we may be able to get energy from the vacuum, success would mean that the universe is far more unstable than we know.
His reasoning goes like this: If the vacuum is not at the lowest energy state possible, then at some point in the future, the vacuum could fall to a lower state, pulsing out energy that would threaten the very structure of the cosmos. If some very clever NITKian were ever to extract energy from the vacuum, it could set off a chain reaction that would spread at the speed of light and destroy the universe. Free energy, yes, but not what you had in mind.
Nevertheless, there are many incredibly innovative theories on the internet on how to generate energy from nothing, including an absolute genius who proposed the idea of naming his generator ‘Nothing’ (Give him the Nobel Prize already). One potential theory I found was to tap vacuum energy by generating charged particles by non-linearizing space and providing an artificial spin using a magnetic field. However the flaw here is that the energy required to collect stray electrons and give them momentum would balance for the energy created, balancing everything out again.
One of the many reasons we are incapable of accessing vacuum energy is Because the vacuum state of the interacting theory is the state of least energy in reality, there is no way to extract the vacuum energy and use it for anything. For now it’s just hidden for of energy physicists use to keep their equations sensible, pretty much like how you add everything into miscellaneous to balance accounts when you ask your parents for money.
However, a good theory of nothing just might be the theory of everything physicists have sought for so long, solving numerous mysteries hidden in the cosmos including the inception of the universe, and perhaps even events before that.
– Arjun Suresh