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Originally Posted by Cantankerous
can someone explain to me the concept of empty space? there has to be SOMETHING in there, doesn't there? even the free air is not empty space, there are all kinds of things in the air.
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here we go
e,pty space in the macro world is the space between atoms of matter. that space is empty of matter. However, even in the truest vaccum of deep space, that "space" is fuil of constantly flying radiation, gamma rays, x rays, radio waves, etc. there is energy there, but the space is devoid of matter
now, even that wholly empty space, when you look at it close enough, and at small enough distances, is not truly "empty"
quantum mechanics states that at a level smaller than the Planck length, (the absolute smallest distance that we can measure or say anything meaningful about , around
1.6 × 10−35 meters ) spacetime itself is actually more of a froth of particles popping in and out of existance lasting less than the Planck time (the amount of time a photon travelling at light speed would take to cross the planck length, ridiculously short amount of time)
due to the energy always present in event the deep3est vaccum, these "virtual particles" will pop into existance, a particle and it's anti-particle, andinstantly annihilate themselves, before the planck time has elapsed.
there is no true "empty space"