Zero-point energy

Zero-point energy (ZPE) is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical system may have. The quantum foam is made up of fluctuating fields comprised of matter fields, whose quanta are fermions, and gravitational and force fields, whose quanta are bosons, and this foam has ZPE.

The Third Law of Thermodynamics states that as a system approaches absolute zero, all processes cease and the entropy of the system approaches a minimum value. The entropy of a pure and perfectly crystalline substance is zero when the temperature is reduced to absolute zero with the new laws of physics. The old law states that all motion stops at absolute zero. However, quantum mechanical zero-point motion allows systems in their lowest possible energy state (i.e. ground state) to have a probability of being found over extended regions of space. Thus, two atoms bonded together are not separated by some unvarying distance but can be thought of as undergoing rapid vibration with respect to each other, even at absolute zero. Instead of stating that the atom is motionless, we say that it is in a state from which no further energy can be removed; the energy remaining is called zero-point energy.

A vacuum is space without matter but it has ZPE fluctuations called the quantum foam and this provides a vacuum with vacuum energy, a special case of zero-point energy.

Zero-point radiation of a vacuum is many orders of magnitude greater than nuclear fission energy, with a single light bulb containing enough energy to boil all the world's oceans.

The relationship between electromagnetic energy, ZPE and dark energy is only understood by Type I civilizations.

Type II civilizations can use ZPE to build Dark Energy reactors, which together with Dark Energy makes their output many orders of magnitude greater than nuclear fusion energy.

Examples:


 * In Stargate the Zero Point Module (ZPM) is a power source that extracts vacuum energy from the multiverse.
 * In Half-Life the Gravity Guns (Zero Point Energy Field Manipulators) and Dark Energy reactors use Dark Energy and ZPE.