[ExI] teachers

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of Jason Resch via extropy-chat



 

 


It is because of that (nuclei holding together against an enormous repulsive force in the positive particles) that physicists discovered quantum mechanics.  Cool!

 

>…I thought it was Planck investigating black body radiation and Einstein explaining the photoelectric effect in terms of photons. What result are you referring to here?

 

Jason 

 

 

Ja, that was the particle/wave dual nature of light.  Even before that was worked out, the physics community understood they had some big problems with the standard model of the atom.  Mesons came to the rescue, but only if we resort to a weird explanation for how they came about.

 

Fun aside: when I was in high school physics, they avoided talking about why nuclei didn’t fly apart.  In my tragically misguided teenage mind, I had to theorize that at some sufficiently small scale, gravity does somehow overpower the electromagnetic force.  But I didn’t understand why, nor did I understand what scale was necessary to cause that to happen.  I was most pleased, overjoyed even, giddy, when I learned there was this other force that holds nuclei together.

 

High school friends asked what was the big Chessie cat grin about.  I explained it was about…

 

…the joy that I found 

ever since the meson came around, 

that force put me at the top of the world…

 

(I musically explained, breaking out into the then-popular Carpenters song.) 

 

I developed a reputation for being the weirdest cat they ever saw.  Oh it was so worth it, for that was a happy day for me.

 

spike

 

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