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| Werner Heisenberg |
Heisenberg's
uncertainty principle, one of the consequences of quantum
mechanics, makes possible the birth of virtual particles in the void,
apparently transgressing the principle of energy conservation, the most holy in
physics. The reason is that Heisenberg’s principle can be expressed in several
ways, one of which relates the uncertainty about the energy to the uncertainty about
time:
DE.Dt≥ħ/2
This expression can
be interpreted in the sense that a pair of objects, each with energy E, can
appear spontaneously in the vacuum, provided that they lasts at most a time Dt<ħ/(2E). These pairs of objects are called virtual particles. One of these
particles is always matter, the other antimatter, and their duration, according
to this principle, is ridiculously small. A virtual electron, for instance,
would last 1.3×10-21 seconds (just above one sextillionth of a
second). The higher the mass (energy)
of the virtual particle, the less time it will last. After that time,
the two particles will annihilate each other and disappear. Due to their short
duration, the existence of virtual particles has not been experimentally
verified.
Is it possible for
these virtual particles to become real under certain circumstances? Yes it is,
and it is believed that there are at least two situations (somewhat drastic, it
is true) where this could happen.
