Kitty Oppenheimer: Can you explain quantum mechanics to me?Mario Barbatti says this is all a big misconception, and the empty atom is a myth.J. Robert Oppenheimer: Well, this glass, this drink, this counter top, uhh.. our bodies, all of it. It's mostly empty space. Groupings of tiny energy waves bound together. Kitty Oppenheimer: By what? J. Robert Oppenheimer: Forces of attraction strong enough to convince us [that] J. Robert Oppenheimer: matter is solid, to stop my body passing through yours. [gently places his palm against hers]
I agree. Electrons can seem like point particles when observed, but in atoms they fill up orbitals.
People like to say that solid matter is mostly empty space, but that is like saying fire is mostly cold. It is nonsense.
People say galaxies are mostly empty space because they can collide, and the inhabitants barely notice as they pass through each other. But solid objects cannot pass through each other.
The whole 'mostly nothing' argument was always bullshit from the very beginning, as the 'mostly nothing' would have had to come out of 'entirely nothing without even time in which to happen'.
ReplyDeletePhysicists just love their precious paradoxes, they stack them like Jenga pieces and then brag about it. How far they have fallen.
“By denying scientific principles, one may maintain any paradox.”
― Galileo Galilei
Dear Roger,
ReplyDeleteThey are, "point"-wise, *very* dense people.
Best,
--Ajit