What IS Nothing?

What is nothing?  This is a question that has bothered philosophers as far back as the ancient Greeks, where they debated the nature of the void. They had long discussions trying to determine whether nothing is something. 

While the philosophical facets of this question pose some interest, the question is also one that the scientific community has addressed. 

 A 10 minute video found within the article Nothing Doesn’t Exist.  Instead, There is Quantum Foam explains the science simply, explaining that at the quantum level there is never nothing.  Like the foam of a carbonated drink there are bubbles of stuff that constantly appear and disappear into and out of existence.  While the bubbles of a root beer that appear and disappear explain quantum foam, our material existence is more like the foam of a root beer float – a foam that persists for a longer time because it has ice cream with which to build the foam, and when the bubbles dissipate the ice cream foam remains for a longer period of time.

The theoretical concept in quantum gravity describes the structure of spacetime at the smallest scales.  While spacetime appears smooth and continuous, at the smallest scale quantum effects are predicted to dominate, turning spacetime into a restless, fluctuating “foam".  This indicates that spacetime is not a smooth continuum but a dynamic, seething medium of quantum fluctuations.  Energy and geometry themselves fluctuate wildly, creating temporary “bubbles", tunnels, and distortions.  Pairs of virtual particles continually appear and annihilate; in some models these fluctuations can include microscopic wormholes or baby universes.

The familiar notions of continuous space and time cease to apply; geometry becomes a function of probability and not the classical “rules” we understand. Quantum foam is a direct consequence of attempting to unite general relativity with quantum mechanics.  The idea was introduced in the 1950s, likening the quantum universe to the frothy surface of the ocean, or the root beer in our case here.

The effects are far too small to detect with current technology, so quantum foam remains a theoretical prediction rather than an experimentally confirmed phenomenon, but in short, quantum foam suggests that the fabric of the universe is calm and orderly only when viewed from afar; up close, it is a chaotic quantum sea of energetic foam that under some circumstances coalesces into matter, much like the foam of a root beer float.