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==== The quantum motor ====

==== The quantum motor ====

The [[motion picture]] adaptation, ''[[Atlas Shrugged, Part 1]],'' proposed an entirely different sort of revolutionary motor. Specifically, it employed a variation on the Casimir Effect, which classically is an attraction between two metal conducting plates brought close together in a ''quantum vacuum.'' In fact, Alexander Feigel, of the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne, [[Israel]], actually proposed building a "quantum propulsion engine" that employs the Casimir Effect, or something close to it.<ref name=casimir>Feigel A, "[http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.1031 A magneto-electric quantum wheel]," ''Quantum Physics'', 5 December 2009. Cited in "[http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24499/ A Blueprint for a Quantum Propulsion Machine]," ''Physics ArXiv Blog,'' 9 December 2009. Cited in turn in Dillow C, "[http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-12/quantum-propulsion-machine Practical Steps Toward a Quantum Propulsion Machine]," ''Popular Science'', 9 December 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2011.</ref>

The [[motion picture]] adaptation, ''[[Atlas Shrugged, Part 1]],'' proposed an entirely different sort of revolutionary motor. In the film, Henry Rearden and Dagny Taggart mention the Casimir Effect, which classically is an attraction between two metal conducting plates brought close together in a ''quantum vacuum.''

 

In fact, Alexander Feigel, of the Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne, [[Israel]], actually proposed building a "quantum propulsion engine" that employs the Casimir Effect, or something close to it.<ref name=casimir>Feigel A, "[http://arxiv.org/abs/0912.1031 A magneto-electric quantum wheel]," ''Quantum Physics'', 5 December 2009. Cited in "[http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24499/ A Blueprint for a Quantum Propulsion Machine]," ''Physics ArXiv Blog,'' 9 December 2009. Cited in turn in Dillow C, "[http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-12/quantum-propulsion-machine Practical Steps Toward a Quantum Propulsion Machine]," ''Popular Science'', 9 December 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2011.</ref> To be more specific, Feigel proposed introducing an array of nanoparticles into a quantum vacuum and rotating them at critical moments. Usually, the Casimir Effect is too small to be of practical consequences, and the related Lorentz forces cancel one another out. Feigel's proposed nanoparticle-rotation scheme would cause the Lorentz forces to add up to a resultant that would be strong enough to do useful work.

 

Some of the terms that the film's script uses are wildly inaccurate, and are probably a weak attempt to conflate the concept of an electrostatic motor with that of a quantum propulsion motor of the type that Feigel proposes. But their use of the term "Casimir Effect" provides the clue to what they actually propose. (Perhaps the oversimplified explanation that Dagny Taggart and Henry Rearden give in the film would be an accurate portrait of an attempt by any layman, not familiar with quantum mechanics, to explain what would be, to them, a shocking discovery.)

Some of the terms that the film's script uses are wildly inaccurate, and are probably a weak attempt to conflate the concept of an electrostatic motor with that of a quantum propulsion motor of the type that Feigel proposes. But their use of the term "Casimir Effect" provides the clue to what they actually propose. (Perhaps the oversimplified explanation that Dagny Taggart and Henry Rearden give in the film would be an accurate portrait of an attempt by any layman, not familiar with quantum mechanics, to explain what would be, to them, a shocking discovery.)