Bob Berman's strange universe: Power from nothing
March 2006: Once upon a time, a vacuum meant nothing. That's changed for keeps.
Contributed by Bob Berman
Published:
March 1, 2006
Once upon a time, a vacuum meant nothing. That's changed for keeps. Most astrophysicists now believe the universe's vast tracts of emptiness seethe with unimaginable power.
In a way, it all started with the ancient Greeks, who hated the notion of a vacuum. Their argument was semantic and came from their passion for logic. How could there be a vacuum, they reasoned, when "be" and "vacuum" contradict each other? It would be nonsense to believe in the existence of nothing. |
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