Talk:Casimir effect

How big are theses forces ? Can they be sufficiant in order to enable to separate the two plates ?

If you mean, to keep the plates apart from each other, overcoming gravity between the two? or overcoming the gravity of one on top? Hardly, since the force can only attract the two plates. If you mean, to oppose gravity enough to keep one on the bottom up against gravity (hardly what I'd call "separating", but just in case), it's hypothetically possible, for thin enough plates close enough together, but not in a useful, let's-use-this-for-antigravity kind of way. -- John Owens 04:45 Apr 9, 2003 (UTC)

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Is this supposed to use permittivity or permeability for the first variable on the right side of the equation? Ever since the equation was introduced in the history, it's been <math>\eta</math>, eta, but the only use for that in electromagnetics is measuring the electromagnetic moment, which I really don't think is what belongs there. Permittivity uses <math>\epsilon</math>, epsilon, the other Greek 'e', so I suspect that's what was meant; permeability uses <math>\mu</math>, mu. -- John Owens 04:47 Apr 9, 2003 (UTC)

Here's a quote from The role of the Casimir effect in the static deflection and stiction of membrane strips in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), Journal of Applied Physics, Volume 84, Number 5, September 1998:

η depends on the dielectric permittivities of the plates and of the medium between them ( η = 1 for perfectly conducting plates with vacuum between them).

I found it at http://www.quantumfields.com/aip98.pdf. η appears to be a dimensionless quantity. -- Heron