# Is gravity a partial product of the Casimir effect? Thus, is gravity the partial macro effect of electromagnetism/quantum fluctuations?

From the Casimir effect, we know that when two plates are placed very close to each other in a vacuum, they attract each other because the 'pressure' of the quantum fluctuations that press on the two plates' outer surfaces outweigh the quantum fluctuations on the inner surfaces.

Imagine two celestial bodies in a deep space.

The closer they get, the more the quantum fluctuations in between them get outweighed by quantum fluctuations not in between them.

Is gravity a partial product of the Casimir effect? Thus, is gravity the partial macro effect of electromagnetism/quantum fluctuations?

• I'm not that familiar with the casimir effect, so a quick check with wikipedia revealed that it scales with $1/r^4$ and the area of the plates, but independent of their masses. Gravitation on the other hand scales with the masses of the bodies and $1/r^2$. What leads you to your hypothesis that gravitation is a "large scale casimir effect" or did i get you wrong here? – Anedar Dec 28 '17 at 15:10
• Gravity = manifestation of spacetime curvature. – Dr. Ikjyot Singh Kohli Dec 28 '17 at 15:12
• Not likely science gravity is not affected by composition (metals nonmetsls, etc) – Lewis Miller Dec 28 '17 at 16:14
• In addition to the scaling issue mentioned by @Anedar, note that the force associated with the Casimir energy can also be repulsive, not attractive, depending on the geometry and materials involved. – Martin C. Dec 28 '17 at 16:35
• The Casimir effect is caused by the residual electromagnetic force. Electrons in one plate attract to nuclei in the other plate. Quantum fluctuations are a misinterpretation of this effect. Physical forces are caused by matter, not by vacuum. This effect exists only at small distances where the size of atoms cannot be neglected. At larger distances charges simply average out and the residual electromagnetic force goes to zero. Search for the relativistic van der Waals force for details. – safesphere Dec 28 '17 at 16:39

The Casimir effect falls of like $1/r^4$ in one dimension. It is likely, I did not check, to fall of like $1/r^6$ in three dimensions. So it is a very short range force, unlike Gravity.