Posted on 07/07/2023 9:22:43 AM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
A new measurement confirms the subatomic particle’s spherical shape to a record level of exactness, physicists report in the July 7 Science.
That near-perfect roundness deepens the mystery behind how the universe came to be filled with matter as opposed to its counterpart, antimatter. Any asymmetry in the electron’s shape, namely the distribution of the particle’s electric charge, would point to a related asymmetry in the laws of nature, one that could explain this feature of the cosmos.
The measurement — of a property known in physicist-speak as the electric dipole moment of the electron — is twice as precise as the previous best measurement of the electron’s shape (SN: 10/17/18).
“I don’t think Guinness tracks this, but if they did, we’d have a new world record,” says physicist Tanya Roussy of the University of Colorado Boulder. The new measurement is so precise that, if an electron were the size of Earth, any asymmetry in its shape would have to be on a scale smaller than an atom.
To gauge the particle’s shape, Roussy and colleagues looked at whether electrons pivoted in an electric field. If electrons weren’t round but slightly egg-shaped, an electric field would exert a torque on them, much as gravity topples an egg standing on its end.
To see that torque, the team looked for changes in the energy levels of electrically charged molecules of hafnium fluoride. Any torque on the electrons would give the molecules different energy levels depending on which direction the “egg” was oriented relative to an electric field. The researchers found no difference in the molecules’ energy levels, confirming the electron’s roundness.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
That’s why they keep rolling off the table.
“The new measurement is so precise that, if an electron were the size of Earth, any asymmetry in its shape would have to be on a scale smaller than an atom.”
That’s an incredible statement right there.
Well, duh!
If they were square they wouldn’t fit in their HOLES!...................
Scientists’ ability to measure things precisely has vastly exceeded non-scientists’ ability to understand the precision.
While phenomenon has little relevance to such things as the sphericity of the electron it has catastrophic consequences in public policy matters related to, for example, pollution and chemical hazards.
pi-—22/7...close but not perfect...drives me crazy.
God is infinitely powerful and perfect.
God created perfectly round electrons.
Of course, He also allows Democrats to torment us, and that is a mystery.
That’s really cool!
What are electrons made of? Is it the same matter as protons and neutrons?
Can that matter be broken down further?
The electron is considered a fundamental particle in the Standard Model, e.g. it cannot be broken down further into smaller sub-units.
They are made of belly button lint.
Whatever it is, it better have a good number of Trans particles. Or, there'll be HELL TO PAY.
E=MC2 (sort of ...)
Currently, electrons are understood to be elementary particles. That is, they're not made of anything. They're one of the things that bigger things are made of.
Neutrons and protons, by contrast, are not understood to be elementary particles. They're understood to be composed of "quarks", elementary particles similar to electrons.
Excellent comments.
Well, duh. If they were square or triangular, how could they easily pass through copper wiring? They’d get stuck!
I saw a bumper sticker coming out of a national lab in New Mexico. “Photons have mass? I didn’t even know they were Catholic”.
This year, anyway.
Stuffed like that bothered me decades ago as a young adult Christian until I read St. Augustine's On Grace and Free Will.
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