Just How Small is an Atom?

This is a really neat video, it does a good job at explaining things in a way most people would be able to understand. Check it out, learn something, it's only 5 minutes.

[video=youtube;yQP4UJhNn0I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQP4UJhNn0I[/video]

Should be in the science forum but have you seen this?

http://scaleofuniverse.com/

Zaehet actually posted that scale a few months ago, it was the first time I had seen it. It is seriously cool...

mindphuk said:

Should be in the science forum but have you seen this?

http://scaleofuniverse.com/

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i absolutely love that, and the music puts you in the mood too!

I remember reading a cool factette in my youth ... about monatomic interstellar gas. It's possible that there are unbonded atoms (hydrogen usually) that have no easy mechanism to relax to the ground state, and that the valence electrons can be kicked into excited states that are a hair's-breadth from ionization. Those orbitals can be as much as a centimeter in diameter. There's no way to see them, but an atom the size of an M&M always stuck with me. It's akin to xenophyophores, single-celled deep-sea organisms up to the size of a cheeseburger. cn

cannabineer said:

I remember reading a cool factette in my youth ... about monatomic interstellar gas. It's possible that there are unbonded atoms (hydrogen usually) that have no easy mechanism to relax to the ground state, and that the valence electrons can be kicked into excited states that are a hair's-breadth from ionization. Those orbitals can be as much as a centimeter in diameter. There's no way to see them, but an atom the size of an M&M always stuck with me. It's akin to xenophyophores, single-celled deep-sea organisms up to the size of a cheeseburger. cn

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M&Ms and cheeseburgers? You're making me hungry...

Heh, I should do Stoner Science Minutes on Youtube. cn

everything that exists in the universe is all part of an ecosystem. neutron stars, black holes, particle decay, fusion, fission, the laws of thermal dynamics, e=mc2 and various formulas and universal constants (pi 3.14). all those particles seem to recycle and change from one state to another. its a big working machine. smoking weed inspires ppl to learn quantum physics.

DoctorSmoke said:

everything that exists in the universe is all part of an ecosystem. neutron stars, black holes, particle decay, fusion, fission, the laws of thermal dynamics, e=mc2 and various formulas and universal constants (pi 3.14). all those particles seem to recycle and change from one state to another. its a big working machine. smoking weed inspires ppl to learn quantum physics.

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An ecosystem is something alive. The earth isn't even an ecosystem; it hosts one. cn

cannabineer said:

I remember reading a cool factette in my youth ... about monatomic interstellar gas. It's possible that there are unbonded atoms (hydrogen usually) that have no easy mechanism to relax to the ground state, and that the valence electrons can be kicked into excited states that are a hair's-breadth from ionization. Those orbitals can be as much as a centimeter in diameter. There's no way to see them, but an atom the size of an M&M always stuck with me. It's akin to xenophyophores, single-celled deep-sea organisms up to the size of a cheeseburger. cn

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This... is fuckin.. AWESOME!

cannabineer said:

An ecosystem is something alive. The earth isn't even an ecosystem; it hosts one. cn

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true, bad choice for a word. but i also describe it as a machine which is isnt by definition. i guess i was thinking similes and metaphors.

I'm pretty sure there is a word for a system with parts that interact in a complex manner ... but dang and criminy if I can think of it now. cn

cannabineer said:

I'm pretty sure there is a word for a system with parts that interact in a complex manner ... but dang and criminy if I can think of it now. cn

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well if u are implying the universe is a machine, then it becomes a matter of what is a machine? to be a machine do something need to meet certain criteria like being build, or build by humans? are u implying god created it? lol. sometimes i dont notice sarcasm...

DoctorSmoke said:

well if u are implying the universe is a machine, then it becomes a matter of what is a machine? to be a machine do something need to meet certain criteria like being build, or build by humans? are u implying god created it? lol. sometimes i dont notice sarcasm...

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The trouble with the word "machine" is that it implies purpose, creation. I don't presuppose the universe is a creation. "System" isn't fraught in this way. Take the geology of Earth ... it's a complex interactive assembly of rocks, metal and interesting impurities. It is very tempting to anthropomorphize this active globe and say it "lives and breathes", but the metaphor has much more value to poets than to geologists or other physical scientists.

So no; I am not implying it was made; nor am I insisting that it wasn't ... although Occam's Razor strongly suggests I don't suppose creation when the models so far work without it. So my default model is the the universe has no purpose (that would make sense to our minds as they are now), and that randomness is the guiding principle for how nonliving things act, and interact. cn

LucidSpore said:

View attachment 2153167
Don't tell me you haven't thought about it

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Groening has:

[video=youtube;dx_lIv5SkHM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx_lIv5SkHM[/video]

I remember seeing that when I was younger, who knew the simpons could boggle your fuckin mind like that. the question was how small is a atom. Depends on what prospective your looking from

mindphuk said:

Should be in the science forum but have you seen this?

http://scaleofuniverse.com/

Click to expand...

hey thanks for sharing this. nice