Posted on 08/23/2016 10:34:57 AM PDT by Heartlander
In practice, it's both Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity. E.g.:
Why does a photon colliding with an atomic nucleus cause pair production?
Not all of our atoms are as old as the universe, because some of the heavier atoms in our bodies formed in stars younger than the universe, mostly iron and other heavy elements. However, it is true that all the *matter* in our bodies is as old as the universe.
I didn't say it wasn't part of Quantum Mechanics. To the extent that the Special Theory is correct, Quantum Mechanics must include relativity, or be mistaken.
[In fact, the Schroedinger Equation does not include it, and is "wrong." It wasn't until Paul A.M. Dirac formulated an explicitly relativistic version of the wave equation that Quantum Mechanics included pair production, negative energy, spin, or antimatter. ALL are relativistic effects.]
The fundamental fact is that mass-energy equivalence is a relativistic effect and is present in classical mechanics (with relativity) and classical electrodynamics; and Quantum Mechanics is not required to have mass/energy conversion in the low energy realm. Lots of solid state physicists, electrical engineers and chemists just use Schroedinger and get along quite well without it. I would refer you to either Bjorken and Drell's Relativistic Quantum Fields or their equally excellent Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, two classic texts which are sitting about two feet away from me as I type for a complete discussion.]
i am not putting my head in the sand...
but my answer is still relevant today.
God is always the answer.
have a great day.
Mass/Energy equivalence exists in classical mechanics and electrodynamics. You don't need pair production to to have it in the theory, and in fact, in the Schroedinger formulation of QM -- which is NON-relativistic -- it doesn't exist.
Ultimately, all antimatter in quantum mechanics is a result of the fact that you must symmetrize the field equations in order to make them Lorentz Invariant. Quantum mechanical theories that are not covariant have no mass-energy equivalence, do not have spin or pair production, and are not relativistic.
[All you are saying is that "correct" formulations of QM/QFT are inherently relativistic, which is true.]
Not picking nits but the limit that the Hubble has actually seen and been verified at is about 300 million years short of the origin (13.4 bn years.)
That came out wrong and I apologize. My fingers talk faster than my mind thinks!
God IS always the answer but I think he enjoys letting us discover and learn things (which in our whole lifetime will be .00000000000000000000000000000001% of what there is to know :)
I certainly believe in God. And I believe in science, which was created by God.
How bored would we be if God gave us nothing to discover!!!!
This is by far the most fascinating science article I’ve read in a while.
Thank you very much for posting it.
It stretches the imagination and the mind!!!
“You could”. Wrong. There is no way for that to happen. The “IF” is impossible, so it’s foolishness to talk about what “could” happen. This is not science.
"We are standing inside a life-scale model of the Pantheon. Erected in 128 AD by the Roman Empire, it held the record for the world's largest domed building for well over a thousand years. It is still the largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world."
Then something very small, practically invisible, buzzed past Keiichi's ear. "Hey, there's a gnat in here, I think."
"Yes. Actually there are 92 of them."
"Why 92?"
"Because a uranium atom has 92 electrons. This is a representation of a uranium atom, specifically uranium-238. It's a simple Bohr model. With 92 protons and 146 neutrons it is the largest stable natural atom in the natural universe, with a half-life of over 4.5 billion years. Anything larger is made artificially in nuclear reactors, nuclear explosions, or as short-lived radioisotopes in supernova blasts."
"I see. So where is it? The atom, I mean?"
"You're standing inside it."
"Huh? You mean this whole huge volume of space is.."
"Yes. This whole space represents a single atom."
"But wait, where's the rest of it?"
"You mean the nucleus?"
"Yeah. I don't see it anywhere."
"It's up there." She pointed. "The center of the atom." They floated upward. "It has a diameter of 15 femtometers, making it larger than any other naturally occurring atomic nucleus. This is as big as it gets. See? It's right over here."
"Where? Past that little marble thing?"
"Keiichi, it is that little marble thing."
He bent over and stared at it. He could barely see it. A bit over a centimeter wide, it was buzzing and jostling around like an angry hive of tiny bees. All 238 of them packed in such a tiny volume.
"That's it? In this whole huge dome?"
"Yes."
"But it's practically empty!"
"Yep."
"So physical matter is basically.. a whole lot of nothing?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
She poked her finger into his shoulder. "When I press my finger into you like that, it is actually the electroweak force that is causing the resistance that is stopping my finger. There is no actual physical contact anywhere, in the sense of particles getting close enough to actually touch. The nuclear forces prevent it. So in a sense I am not actually 'touching' you at all."
"I see."
"Now let's go up to the opposite end of the scale." Everything shifted.
They were now floating in a black expanse. "This is intergalactic space. More specifically, it is the volume of space in-between galactic superclusters. It constitutes over 99% of the volume of the observable universe."
"A whole lot of nuthin'."
"Yep. The universe is appallingly empty, on both scales. The physical structure of the universe is actually very frothy, sort of like soapy suds when you take a bath. The galactic superclusters are all clumped along very thin strips and point junctions that interconnect the frothy soap bubbles."
"And the inside of all those huge soap bubbles.."
".. is empty. As empty as it gets. For a billion light years in every direction."
"More nuthin'."
"Yes. Now let's look at an intermediate scale." Everything shifted again.
"This is a scaled representation of your sun, Sol." Keiichi saw a tiny dot about the size of a period on a printed page. "The nearest neighboring sun would be Alpha Centauri, about 4.24 light-years away, over there." She pointed.
"Where?"
"Let's go see."
They had travelled about 2 kilometers. He asked, "Here?"
"No."
2 kilometers more. "More?" "Uh-huh."
Again. "You're kidding."
This repeated a few more times.
After about 14 kilometers they finally stopped. Another tiny dot the size of a period.
She said, "If your sun was scaled up to 1 foot radius, Alpha Centauri would be over 10,000 miles away."
Keiichi shook his head. "This is nuts. Space is so empty."
"Yes. So let me now ask you, given what you have learned, would you consider a random meteor, a lump of rock, in the great scheme of things, to be something rather special?"
"Yeah."
"Rare?"
"Of course."
"Perhaps even precious?"
"Well, I sort of see what you mean... Anything at all would be pretty special given the complete emptiness surrounding us."
"Good, remember that. Now let's see something even more rare." Another shift.
There were floating next to what looked like a large irregular semi-translucent sphere. Several snake-like entities were heading towards it. "This is the moment of conception. Between 100 million to a half-billion sperm cells are all swimming frantically to find this, the egg. Only one will succeed."
"Heh. So you have better odds of winning the Power Ball lottery jackpot than a sperm has of fertilizing that egg."
"Yes."
"That is one lucky sperm. You know, it seems like all of the interesting things in the universe are rare. Special."
"Yep. All life on Earth exists in a supremely thin layer, thinner than skin of an onion on the same scale. The bulk of the Earth's mass, 99.999..% of it, is dead. See a pattern here?"
"God seems to like rarity."
"Yes."
"But why? Why not simply create a universe that is completely alive? Make everything living? Why is it all so empty, so dead?"
"Keiichi, that is a very good question. I wish I had an answer for you, but I don't. My personal theory is that it is because it makes those very few things in the vastness of the universe even more precious, even more special..."
7 billion humans in a sugar cube.
Yes. A sugar cube that has the same mass as those 7 billion human beings.
That’s a pretty heavy sugar cube, buddy.
I don't know about that, I've seen lots of email slide show photos of Walmart shoppers would debunk that theory......
Sounds about right. Nit is hereby declared successfully picked. :-)
matter can be changed into energy, though, E=MC2 (squared). Atoms can be split, resulting in two new atoms. Atoms can be fused, resulting in one new atom. An atom's electron can be lost or gained, resulting in an ion. Does this count? We'll let that one go.
HAH! I forgot about that episode!
Probably only 3.4 billion considering 90% of 'your' cells are comprised of the various parasites, virii, and bacteria that call the human body home.
This believing physical chemist is with you! Few sins are worse than self-imposed ignorance in the name of “religion”.
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