ZPE, inertia and gravity- how to build a ZPM.

[Kelspook]

A while back on another forum, I ended up researching how a ZPM might actually work, and how it could be constructed. It took me about a week, and the following article ended up being the result. I may be way off the mark, but I thought I'd share it here and see what other folks think. Constructive comments are very welcome.

The ZPM was defined on Atlantis as "Vacuum energy derived from a self contained region of subspace-time", and another term for vaccuum energy is zero point energy, hence the name of the power source.

ZPM's and Zero Point Energy


Part 1- ZPE

It's the energy of empty space. There were arguments starting way back with the Greeks about whether space was really empty or wasn't. Democritus thought that it was completely empty, and that's how you have room for the atoms to bump around. Aristotle, however, disagreed. "No," he said, "I think space is full of something, because we have waves of heat energy and they must travel through something."

That argument bounced back and forth over the centuries up until quantum theory was finally developed, and at that point it became absolutely clear that space, at a microscopic level, is seething with activity; kind of like the swirling, frothy base of a waterfall rather than a placid, empty space. In the volume of a coffee cup, in empty space, there's enough energy to evaporate all of the world's oceans. This isn't a fringe concept; by the way, it's a basic underlying concept in modern quantum theory.

So, where does this energy actually come from? Every particle in the universe has some charge on it, from the atoms that each and every one of us is made up of to the ones in our sun, and those in the rest of our infinite cosmos. It turns out that all these particles are undergoing a little tiny quantum jiggle, or quantum dance, and in that process they are radiating energy. Any given particle is jiggled by that energy, and radiates back. So on the cosmological scale it's sort of the electromagnetic equivalent of putting a microphone next to a speaker and getting that horrible, high pitched squeal. So what we have is a giant feedback system, with all the particles generating this zero point energy with their quantum jiggling and constantly reinforcing itself, just like the squeal generated by a live microphone next to a speaker- the feedback loop will continue until one element is removed or powered down.

In the case of ZPE, it's constant. The background wash of energy is always there, as are the particles. The particles are always jiggling, creating ZPE, and the ZPE constantly reinforces and encourages the jiggling- it's a loop. If you could construct something to mine this effect with no energy losses, you would have that holy grail of science, the perpetual motion machine- unlimited energy out for no energy in. In practice, however, there are ALWAYS losses from the system. This is why the ZPM's, although they produce vast amounts of energy for an incredibly long time, they run down eventually and are exhausted, albeit after thousands of years, as was seen in Atlantis. In the case of the ZPM, one of the ways that it loses energy from the system is obvious. The thing emits light- but only when it recognises a conductive connection (to the stargate or the ancient outpost in the Antarctic, for example) or when power is being actively drawn from it. When it's dormant, the system is balanced, so there are no losses. That's visible proof that the ZPM isn't completely efficient- energy is being lost from the system in the form of photons of light when it's active.

Okay, as you can probably tell, I'm now departing from recognised scientific reality and launching myself into theorising wildly. As I'm going from science fact off into science fiction, if any of you guys think I'm wrong, say so and explain why- then we all get to play! I'm not a member of the Stargate writing team, I'm just a fan with an interest in physics who's having a stab at a theory to explain how the ZPM works.

Before I carry on with this, I've realised that there is another vital side of things I need to go over first, and it has to do with mass, density, gravity and inertia. Okay, we said before that the energy contained in a coffee cup sized volume of empty space could evaporate earth's oceans. That's a lot of energy.

Now say that a ZPM holds, physically, three times that volume inside- pay attention to the word "physically", that's going to be significant in a bit, as by that I mean the same sort of physically as saying a bucket can "physically" hold a gallon of water. If you have a play with the laws of physics, you can make it hold a lot more. Keep that in mind, it's important.

Right. So Atlantis survived, untended by anyone's hand, for ten thousand years drawing power from only three ZPM's. As it was running a force field to hold back the sea, life support systems and such, there's no way the ZPM's would physically hold enough matter to generate sufficient ZPE to support all those power requirements if the matter inside weighed as little as we know the zero point modules do, especially as we have to take into account that there are losses from the system- the ZPM's run out of power eventually. This is where the shenanigans with the laws of physics come in. The ZPM has a huge amount of matter inside, compacted to all intents and purposes by the subspace field into a dense mass. This increased amount of matter and space provides a massively increased power reserve of ZPE, enough to run those systems at Atlantis for a very long time. It's self-contained, which is why they run down, like any other battery. Nothing in after construction, energy out- eventually the feedback loop collapses.

Now, the thing is that you couldn't lift something so dense. During "Upgrades" even a physically small amount of weapons grade naquada took two strapping Jaffa to carry it. However, another facet of ZPE is that the field it creates also has to do with inertia and gravity, and that's what I'm going to expand on next.

[Kelspook]

Part 2- Zero Point Energy, Inertia and Gravity.

Up until about a decade ago, it was thought that zero point energy, or ZPE, couldn't be mined for practical use. The reason is that, for example, we are surrounded at all times by a heat bath, and by that I mean ambient warmth- room temperature. Physicists had learned from attempts to "mine heat energy" that it always took more energy to make use of ambient heat than you got out. So although we can do that with refrigerators and heaters and so on, you have to pay an energy penalty as great as that which you get out.

It was kind of accepted that the surrounding ZPE, which is everywhere, was maybe like a heat bath and that you couldn't tap it. That was disproved by a researcher named Bob Forward at Hughes laboratory in '84- he proved that on a microscopic scale the "Casmir effect" showed both experimentally and theoretically that this background energy can be turned into some other form.

So if all this energy is sloshing about the place, why can't we feel it? Well, actually, you can. In the case of inertia, you CAN feel it. If you are standing on a train or a bus and it takes off with a jerk, you suddenly find yourself flat on your back and it feels as though a 200lb man came along and knocked you over. So you have to ask yourself "what was it that knocked me down?".

What actually happened was that you ran into that wall of zero point energy and it held you back, knocking you over. This problem of inertia was traced to what is known as a "zero point field Lorentz force". This vacuum Lorentz force term is just a standard name for a magnetic force that engineers are familiar with in the lab- whenever you have a charged particle moving through a magnetic field, it feels that force, and the magnetic field connected to these zero point fluctuations is always there.

So, whenever you try to accelerate a body of matter composed of charged particles (that includes pretty much everything, including you) there is a resistive force that holds you back, and that force is what we experience as inertia. So when you're trying to move your car down the street when it's battery has gone dead, all that effort is because you're pushing against the vacuum. You don't feel this force at constant velocity, but you do feel it when you're trying to accelerate or decelerate something.

You're probably wondering where I'm going with all this. Well, it's relevant; knowing that zero point energy field fluctuations are involved in both inertia and gravity (the force of gravity is trying to accelerate things, it's another form of the same thing- gravity accelerates things until the surface of the planet exerts a similar force in the opposite direction. On earth, gravity accelerates things at around 10 ms-1.) it's not beyond imagining that if you could manipulate those fluctuations, you could control how both gravity and inertia act on an object- anti-gravity drives or inertial dampers, you could do whatever you liked. Essentially, you could make things not only weigh less, but fool the universe into thinking that the object's mass itself had been reduced!

If you reduce mass, you reduce both inertia and momentum. So a human would be able to life and carry objects that would usually be far too heavy for them to shift. Weight and mass aren't the same thing. Weight changes in differing gravitational fields, mass doesn't- this is why astronauts working with heavy objects in zero gravity have to be so careful. Subjectively, they weigh next to nothing, but the mass hasn't changed so the object still has the same inertia and momentum once you get it moving, which means that it's then quite difficult to bring back to a standstill.

So, say we have an object that weighs the same as a bus. On your own, you'd never be able to lift it. But if you could control the fluctuations in the ZPE field, you could make it as light as a box of matches.

The reason I've gone through all this is because of how I’m surmising that the ZPM works. If the ancients could tap ZPE, they'd certainly be capable of controlling the fluctuations in the zero point energy field. So the "subspace-time" part of McKay's explanation should now start to make sense. Without the subspace-time field and control over zero point energy field fluctuations, a ZPM would be, because of it's mass and size, very difficult to move- not so good if you want a convenient, powerful, long lasting and easily portable energy source. But if you changed the subjective mass and created a local compressed area of space-time, a lifeform the size of a human could pick it up easily. That's what I think they did!

[Kelspook]

Part 3- The ZPM


So first off, a recap of McKay's definition of how the ZPM works:-

"Vacuum energy derived from a self contained region of subspace-time"

We know that the ZPM derives its power from zero point energy, also known as vacuum energy. In order to have access to a lot of that in one source, the ancients used a powerful subspace field to compress an area of space-time containing a large amount of matter into a relatively small area. Subjectively, although it would now appear small, the thing would now be so heavy that you couldn't lift it due to its relative density.

Inside the middle of the ZPM is a core of what, due to the subspace compression, seems to be incredibly dense matter. But the ancients wanted it to be easily portable. Something that dense couldn't be lifted by a starship, let alone a person.

That's why they next added an additional field generator around the core to manipulate the zero point energy field fluctuations and subjectively reduce the mass in the core to an amount that the average person could lift easily, say, about 4kg. During the first stages of construction these two field generators would be powered by an external supply.

They now had their power source. But that's no good unless the power can be drawn out and put to use. At this stage they added a device to harvest the ZPE from the core and a power conduit at the flat end, where the red spot is. This conduit connects first to the two field generators, and only after that allows power to be drawn out of the module to be put to other uses. This is similar to the way the human heart supplies oxygenated blood to it's own muscle tissue first before the blood goes anywhere else in the body. There is a failsafe built in here- the ZPM will only allow so much to be drawn out, and will retain enough to keep the two field generators running so that there is never any danger of an explosive decompression of the subspace field in the event that the unit becomes exhausted of power, as that would be disastrous to anyone in the vicinity.

But you need it to be robust, too, and you need to know when it's active.

Finally we go to the casing. This is constructed of a nigh indestructible form of crystalline material, way tougher than diamond. Running through it from the flat end housing the power conduit and field generators to the tip are filaments of naquada. These have a dual purpose; they allow the energy to be transferred along them from the primary conduit in the interior into whatever device the ZPM is hooked up to, and they react with the crystalline casing and the harvesting process, making it glow when energy has a conductive path to follow outside, whether energy is actively being drawn or when the unit is merely readying itself to supply power. So, you plug it in, and away you go, oodles of power!


Of course, I may be WAY off the mark, but as theories go, I don't think it's too bad.... Right then guys, over to you! Thoughts, comments, questions, opinions?


References:
Dr. Hal Puthoff, Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Austin, TX.
Article on Cold Fusion and Zero Point Energy, Infinite Energy magazine.

[nich959]

Wow is all I can think of to say, you theorys sound acurate to me but i wouldnt know if they were'nt but I like it anyway.
You've obviuosly thought long and hard about this. There are some people who could give some good COnstructive critisms but thata not me

[Semmer]

One of the best ZPM theories ever written. Well done!

But I have to ask, how does the ZPM maintain itself when it's not plugged in? That would leave us with expiration dated ZPMs because the energy contained must be used to maintain itself?

[DarkSullivan]

These are some great theories and I agree with this, it tought me how a ZPM is made, how it works, and how the power is channeled from the ZPM to the devise it is powering. Thank you.

[Halzman]

ZPE is massless charge. It is comprised of 2 opposing magnetic fields, spinning in opposite directions. I beleive the geometric form can be repsresented as 3.14 ^16 (if memory serves correctly). It is literally something that is being created and destroyed constantly. Think of a pulse, or a wave - you have the low points of the wave and then the high point - the high point is the energy you can use.

The opposing rotation of the fields is what creates 'anti-gravity', and similarly, can also be used to increase gravity. You see, once the density of ZPE (usually I just refer to it as ether, since thats exactly what it is) gets to a certain point, it begins interlocking to the point where you have atoms - mass with charge.

If you have 1 field rotating clockwise, and another rotating counter-clockwise, and the magnetic 'pressure' is high enough, you have yourself antigravity.

Heres a perfect stargate example: Remember in BAMSR when McKay increased the attraction of the nanites, creates a huge super dense blob? - This is the concept behind beaming and hyperdrive tech. If you can 'dial in' to the specific frequency of an object or location, and you dial up your attraction to it, you will be pulled toward the object, rather then having to rely on thrust to push you towards the object/location.


Look at Tesla's Radiant Energy Device - its basically a very crude ZPM.

I must say though that Stargate has been the only show to truly represent the sci-fi tech close to what it actually is. Kudos to them

And Kudos to you, here I thought I was the only one who really got how this stuff worked.

[Kelspook]

Thanks folks, I enjoyed researching it, and I'm very happy that you guys feel I've got it pretty close.

But I have to ask, how does the ZPM maintain itself when it's not plugged in? That would leave us with expiration dated ZPMs because the energy contained must be used to maintain itself?

It would stand that eventually they'd run out of energy even if they aren't being actively drawn from. However, the field generators would use a very small amount, subjectively, so the ZPMs would stay usable for tens of thousands of years.

If you look at Atlantis, it ran some extremely power heavy systems for ten thousand years, so there must be a massive amount inside them.

One thing about the ancients seems to be that they thought very very long term.

[lord groovy]

One thing about the ancients seems to be that they thought very very long term.

Maybe because all the devices and theories behind a working ZPM make it really hard to make.

[Womble]

Way, way, WAY too much free time on your hands, Kelspook.

Seriously though, to answer the question of how to make a ZPM one needs first to establish what subspace is, in physical terms.

[Kelspook]

Way, way, WAY too much free time on your hands, Kelspook.

*chuckle* to be fair, I did say that I'd done this a while back- about 2 years ago I was at a much quieter station and decided to put the time hanging around between calls to a use that meant I would actually learn something. You can only do so much cleaning and training.... I wouldn't have time to do it now, and put this up here now because I was talking to some folks at AT3 last weekend about it, and they wanted to read it.

Seriously though, to answer the question of how to make a ZPM one needs first to establish what subspace is, in physical terms.

Yeah, but right now, the only place that subspace is real is in the high end mathematics of theoretical physics.

I guess that's the part the "fiction" in sci-fi comes from. Little bit of fiction, big dollop of fact, you got yourself something believable.

[Xiphias]

I guess that's the part the "fiction" in sci-fi comes from. Little bit of fiction, big dollop of fact, you got yourself something believable.

Don't forget entertaining. Very entertaining.

In any case, when do I get a zpm to hook up to, say, my house?

[RM_2000_A]

When the persons in the high-end laboratories discovers subspace and a material stronger than diamond. Oh, and if they discover Naquahda too.

[Xiphias]

When the persons in the high-end laboratories discovers subspace and a material stronger than diamond. Oh, and if they discover Naquahda too.

So, two years?

[RM_2000_A]

Five hundred years, best bet.