Sorry to burst your bubble part two...
A true vacuum is the absence of any atmosphere at all. But...contained within that vacuum is at least one molecule per centimeter. Vacuum in space. Also within that vacuum is a phenomenon known as zero point energy. Virtual particles that pop into existense spontaneously. This always occurs in pairs of virtual particles. One of matter, one of antimatter. They mutually anhiliate and that flash, millionths of a second in duration, has been recorded. Another name for it is vacuum energy.
The 'ether' while debunked most thoroughly years ago could be used as another way to describe the fabric of space/time. The 'all-pervasive' description I gave refers to that which comprises the fabric of the space/time continuum. Scientists are now only beginning to understand an unseen form of energy called 'negative energy' or dark energy.
They believe this energy is responsible for the increased speed with which the universe is expanding i.e. inflation. It acts as a sort of antigravity. When I said think negative and the above all-pervasive......I was referring to negative energy. My phrase...insufficient (meaning there isn't enough understanding) mass (it cannot be detected let alone measured with any accuracy) of proto (first or new) plasmic (or plasma as energy of whatever kind is a form of plasma) nonsense...well...you should hear some of the theories being tossed about.
Mine is that this dark or negative energy is the elusive Higgs Field. This field as represented by a particle called the Higgs Boson which they believe is responsible for imparting mass to all other fundamental particles. The SHC or Super Hadron Collider is supposed to generate the kind of energies (on the order 3 to 6 Tev or Tetra, trillion electron volts) which is an enormous amount of energy. This is necessary to probe the essence of the universe when it was mere seconds old.
It is said that at this energy level it will be possible to create microscopic black holes. Some fear that these mini monsters will cause havoc on the planet, fearing that they'll suck it up. They can't because their life expectancy is on the order of microseconds. What is, theoretically, possible is that the amount of energy generated might just cause a rip in the fabric of space/time or open a doorway into other dimensions. This is wanted in order to confirm or not the existense of either seven, eleven or twentyone (all kidding aside) additional dimensions along with the four we know to exist, three spatial one temporal.
In my opinion I think there are five not four. Length, width, depth as the first three spatial ones and two of time. One is time relative to distance traveled in one of three spatial dimensions and temporal with respect to the amount of time it takes to cover that distance. For instance...if a place is say one hour away and depending on mode of transport, a vehicle travleing at 60 mph will take one hour to do the distance as opposed to someone riding a bike at 20 mph will take three times as long to travel the same distance. The amount of time with respect to distance relative to the how much time it takes to cover it. Two temporal dimensions equivalent in length but not in time relative to mode of transport.
So there you have it folks. My insufficient mass of protoplasmic nonsense turns out to be...... not much of anything at all.
