Full Idea
Empty space is complicated. It is a boiling brew of virtual particles that pop in and out of existence in a time so short we cannot see them directly.
Gist of Idea
Empty space contains a continual flux of brief virtual particles
Source
Lawrence M. Krauss (A Universe from Nothing [2012], 10)
Book Reference
Krauss,Lawrence M.: 'A Universe from Nothing' [Simon and Schuster 2012], p.153
A Reaction
Apparently the interior of a proton is also like this. This fact gives a foot in the door for explanations of how the Big Bang got started, from these virtual particles. And yet surely space itself only arrives with the Big Bang?
Related Idea
Idea 21106 Most of the mass of a proton is the energy in virtual particles (rather than the quarks) [Krauss]