Popular physics myth is all at sea

Some stories are just too good to be true. And according to physicist Fabrizio Pinto, that's exactly the case for an analogy routinely used by physicists to illustrate the mysterious Casimir effect - a strange force of attraction seen between two surfaces separated by empty space.

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Popular physics myth is all at sea

Some stories are just too good to be true. And according to physicist Fabrizio Pinto, that's exactly the case for an analogy routinely used by physicists to illustrate the mysterious Casimir effect - a strange force of attraction seen between two surfaces separated by empty space.

It has become almost obligatory for popular articles on the subject to mention that a similar effect also operates between ships lying close together in a strong swell. This notion stems from a physics article published in 1996, which describes how an 1836 book, The Album of the Mariner, says ships should not be moored too close together because they will be attracted by a mysterious force.

But Pinto tells [email protected] that this all stems from a misunderstanding. The Album of the Mariner says this attraction only happens in calm seas, points out Pinto. The only way a Casimir-like effect could be responsible is if the boats were moored in a choppy swell.

So the analogy is false, says Pinto. And there may not be any mysterious force at all pulling two ships together, whatever the conditions. "We have caught physicists in the very act of creating a myth," he says.

Contact

Fabrizio Pinto
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E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

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Published: 04 May 2006

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