The universe should be regarded as a liquid 'superfluid', claim scientists seeking to discover the fundamental nature of space. <br /> <br />Quantum mechanics is currently able to explain three of the four fundamental forces in the universe - electromagnetism, strong interaction and weak interaction - but does not explain gravity. <br /> <br />According to the latest theory, spacetime could be treated as a fluid. This model could allow scientists to work out how some forces move through space. <br /> <br />Waves, for example, use water as a medium through which to move. <br /> <br />On the conventional model, space is considered to be a vacuum. How then, scientists ask, do electromagnetic waves, photons, and other entities move through space if there is, by definition, nothing? <br /> <br />According to researchers Stefano Liberati, a professor at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) and Luca Maccione, a research scientist at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, the medium they move through, or the universe, could be considered a 'superfluid'. <br /> <br />They say that to us spacetime appears as a 'classical object', or one that is whole. Instead, it should be regarded as the visible aspect of a fluid. <br /> <br />For example, water appears to us to be a flowing liquid, but is in reality a H2O molecules. <br /> <br />Spacetime is itself, they claim, made of more fundamental elements. However, it's not known what these actually are. <br /> <br />The superfluidity model could allow an explanation of quantum effects and gravity, opening up new avenues of research, claim scientists. <br /> <br />However, if universe is a fluid, it must have viscosity, and viscosity has been found to dissipate photons and other particles found in the universe.
