1 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, what's been in our inbox lately? Well, we 2 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: get the usual stuff, people with minor corrections, people with 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,320 Speaker 1: you know, cosmic questions, people asking me for to send 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: them special stuff for Father's Day. So you said people 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,079 Speaker 1: are asking about Father's Day. Yes, some people right in 6 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: I like this because they're not actually fans of our show, 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: but their dad or their mom is a fan of 8 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: the show, and they want us to send a special 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: Father's Day or Mother's Day message to their parents who listens. 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: So it's like young, cool, hip people saying, Hey, my 11 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,919 Speaker 1: dad likes your show, and I have no ideas for 12 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:41,480 Speaker 1: any Father's Day's gifts. So do we charge for these 13 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,320 Speaker 1: or we don't charge for these because we're nice guys 14 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,839 Speaker 1: and we like helping people, and we're also fathers, and 15 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: so I want to give a special shout out to 16 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,279 Speaker 1: Paul truth Low, whose daughter Caitlin asked us to give 17 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: you a special Father's Day message. So happy Father's Day, Paul, 18 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: and uh roll Tide, I'm supposed to say. Also, Hi, 19 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,160 Speaker 1: I'm Poor Hay, I'm a cartoonists and the creator of 20 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: PhD Comics. Hi I'm Daniel Whitson, I'm a particle physicist 21 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: by day and a podcaster by any other time I know. 22 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to our podcast Daniel and Jorge Explain at Universe, 23 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio in which we really do, 24 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: honestly try to answer questions about physics, Questions that we have, 25 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: questions that you have, Questions that we just randomly float 26 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: into our minds some days. Yeah, and if you actually 27 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 1: send us a question, either at questions at Daniel and 28 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: Jorge dot com or any one of our social media 29 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: channels like Instagram or Twitter or Facebook, we will actually 30 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: get to your question and maybe even talk about it 31 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: on the podcast. That's right, because when you have a question, 32 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: probably other people have the same question. And that's the 33 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: wonderful thing about having people suggest questions, because sometimes there's 34 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,359 Speaker 1: an angle to something that we haven't thought of because 35 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: we come at it from a scientific perspective, and seeing 36 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: it from the point of view of the audience helps 37 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: us really explain these things, really get down and untangle 38 00:02:17,400 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: all those mysteries that you have in your mind, because 39 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 1: our goal is at the end of this that you 40 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: have a crystal clear picture what's going on in this universe. 41 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: And if you send us a question that stumps Daniel, 42 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: you actually get a prize, right, Daniel, Yeah, banana cake. 43 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:31,600 Speaker 1: I don't know. It's a podcast has to be audio, 44 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: So the sound of Jorgey eating a banana cake that 45 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: Daniel made. How about that? Some Rader shows give you 46 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: your phone message, they'll record your your voicemail message. We 47 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 1: will record one of the hosts eating bananas. What could 48 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: be better than that? Yeah? Well, hey, that could be 49 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 1: a good ring tone, right, that could be a good ringtowne. Hey, 50 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:50,680 Speaker 1: I got a call coming and how do you know 51 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: it sounds like something's eating in your pocket. Yeah, that's right. 52 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: If you're really kind of personally doesn't like peop believing 53 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: your voicemails, this is this is the contest for you 54 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: right here. That's right, that's right. No, seriously, I would 55 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: love to get a question that stumps me. Um. I 56 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: do get questions A lot of times. I get questions 57 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: I've never heard before, and that's a wonderful experience because 58 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: you know, there's a standard as the questions people ask. 59 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: But then there's a question I'd never even thought to 60 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: ask before, and that's wonderful because it gives me a 61 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: little view into the mind of the question er. I 62 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: have to think what did they understand or what was 63 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: going on in their head that inspired this question, so 64 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: that I can then figure out how to guide them 65 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: from there to a clear picture of what's actually happening. 66 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,359 Speaker 1: And that's the challenge of teaching, and that's what I 67 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: really love about that. So these are questions you hadn't 68 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: even thought anyone could ask or would ask. Yeah, I'll 69 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: give you an example. Um, I give demonstrations at elementary 70 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: school sometimes and we use like liquid nitrogen and all 71 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: sorts of stuff too, you know. Um, one time we 72 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: froze bananas and shattered it on the ground and the 73 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: kids thought that was cool, and afterwards were open for questions. 74 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, you shattered bananas. That's right, some bananas 75 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: were harmed in the making of this pod cast. I 76 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: have to oh, man, my heart is bleeding, Daniel. But 77 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: afterwards we were open for questions, and some kid raised 78 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: his hand and he says, if lightsabers were real, would 79 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: they be made of liquid nitrogen? And I thought, I 80 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: have no idea how to answer that question, you know, like, 81 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:20,760 Speaker 1: where do you even begin. You rolled your eye, You're like, 82 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: obviously they're made out of hyper crystal. Wikid do your research. 83 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: I had not done my research on fictional universes and 84 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,599 Speaker 1: how science might work in that fictional universe. But I 85 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:34,679 Speaker 1: love that he connected two things he found amazing liquid 86 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:38,359 Speaker 1: nitrogen and lightsabers, and thought maybe these are the same things. 87 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: And actually we get a lot of emails like that. 88 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: They're like, hey, today you guys talked about the mystery 89 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,720 Speaker 1: of you know, dark matter. Maybe that's the same thing 90 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,480 Speaker 1: as this other mystery. Like after our time episode, a 91 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: lot of people wrote in and said, maybe dark energy 92 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: is just a mistake of how we observe time, and 93 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: time doesn't just move forward constantly. It's sort of stutter steps, 94 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,799 Speaker 1: and that's dark energy. People love to connect to mysteries 95 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,039 Speaker 1: and try to solve them at once. So you know 96 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: that little boy in the class, he really exemplified the 97 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,479 Speaker 1: kinds of questions that that listeners ask. We're all just 98 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:14,679 Speaker 1: little Star Wars fans inside. That's right, that's right. Yeah, 99 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: Well today we are answering your questions on the podcast. 100 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: Today's episode is about listener questions Part four, right or 101 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,400 Speaker 1: are we up to part pie? Are we sort of 102 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 1: this version? Pie? I think our podcasts are integer numbered, Yeah, 103 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: so this would be number four. It would be awesome 104 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: to have a point one four of a podcast, but 105 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: I'm not sure how do you pull that off? All right, 106 00:05:43,200 --> 00:05:47,479 Speaker 1: So today we have three interesting questions from listeners from 107 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: all across the world, right or at least the United States. Oh, 108 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: I think some of them are international. They don't always 109 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,359 Speaker 1: tell us where they come from, but based on the accent, 110 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: I don't think all of these come from the Southwest 111 00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: the United States, which seems to be are a big 112 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: hotbed for fans over our show. No, it was just random. 113 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: Last time I happened to pick three questions which all 114 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: like came from the south I was totally just random. 115 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: But today we have three pretty cool questions from listeners. 116 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,400 Speaker 1: One is about gravity, another one about dark matter, and 117 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,359 Speaker 1: the other one is about the nuclei of Adam, Like 118 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:22,480 Speaker 1: how do they stay together? And why don't we all 119 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: just explode into balls of nuclear explosions? Maybe we will. 120 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: You'll find out on today's episode. I think people um 121 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: might already know the answer. But teaser, you're you're okay 122 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,160 Speaker 1: for the next couple of seconds. You'll survive long enough 123 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: to hear the end of this episode at the very least, 124 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: and then you can you can then explode view like 125 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: from knowledge? Do you think anybody has ever perished while 126 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,600 Speaker 1: listening to our episode? That just dark thoughts just entered 127 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: my head. Oh my god, let's let's cut that out. 128 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: Can you imagine being the last thing anybody ever heard 129 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: in their life for making a joke about bananas? It 130 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: blew their minds, banded their idea of what a joke 131 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: could be, and it's just overwhelmed their neural network. Yeah. 132 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: I don't know if that means the joke was amazing 133 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: so good that they couldn't take it, or they're just like, 134 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: you know what, I'm done after that. I can't take 135 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,760 Speaker 1: anymore people get paid to say those kinds of jokes. 136 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: Then I'm out of here. There's no amazing to go on. 137 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: That's right, goodbye, cool, unfunny world. Well help, neither of 138 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,280 Speaker 1: these things happen to you, our dear listeners. But our 139 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: first question comes from Florence from Texas, and she has 140 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: a question about how gravity could um keep the Earth 141 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: in orbit. Here's what you had to say. I have 142 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: a question about gravity. You've described it before as the 143 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: weakest force, and you said in fact that it's so 144 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,840 Speaker 1: weak that when you're picking up an object with a magnet, 145 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: you're overpowering the entire Earth's gravity, So that's pretty weak. 146 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: My problem is when I start thinking about the objects 147 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: and the Kuiper Belt, they're thirty two fifty astronomer gold 148 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: units away and that's billions and billions of miles, and 149 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: yet the Sun's gravity is still able to keep them 150 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: in orbit. And that just gives me the impression that 151 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: gravity is really strong, not weak. So those two thoughts 152 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: really don't go together. Um, would you help me with that? 153 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: All right? Thank you, Florence from Texas. So that's a 154 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,120 Speaker 1: pretty interesting question, right, Daniel. Is that we often mentioned 155 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:25,000 Speaker 1: on the show that gravity is the weakest force, and 156 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: it's actually super duper duper weak. But at the same time, 157 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: I think maybe a lot of listeners are thinking, but 158 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 1: weight of gravity is a weak how is it keeping 159 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,200 Speaker 1: the Earth going around in orbit and other planets in Jupiter? 160 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,120 Speaker 1: And how is it such an amazing, an incredible force 161 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 1: in the universe. It is an amazing, incredible force in 162 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: the universe, And you're right to wonder about that, because 163 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 1: as you look out into the night sky, you think about, 164 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 1: like all the structures in the universe, the Solar system 165 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: with the planets going around the Sun, and even the 166 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: galaxy and the structures of galaxies and the superclusters, all 167 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: of that is determined by gravity, right, So gravity seems 168 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 1: to have a huge role in organizing the way the 169 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,600 Speaker 1: universe works, right, And and the way we discovered dark 170 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: matters through gravity. And so if you just looked at it, 171 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:12,559 Speaker 1: you say, well, gravity is one of the most important 172 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: forces because it shapes the whole universe. So then to 173 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: hear somebody say actually, gravity is the weakest force in 174 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: the universe, it does seem like a strong contradiction, right, 175 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 1: it It doesn't make sense in your mind, because how 176 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: can it be the weakest force and also be the 177 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: thing that shapes everything else? Right, It's kind of like 178 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,679 Speaker 1: the organizing force in the universe, right, It organizes planets 179 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:37,920 Speaker 1: into solar systems, and solar systems into galaxies and galaxies 180 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: in two clusters. Like if we didn't have gravity, everything 181 00:09:40,520 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: which is a fly fly away and fly apart. Yeah, 182 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: that's right, we wouldn't have any of the good stuff 183 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:46,840 Speaker 1: that we have without gravity. So we own a big 184 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:48,760 Speaker 1: thanks to gravity. And I like the way you said 185 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 1: it's I sort of organized these things. I think that's 186 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: one of the big ideas to understand how gravity can 187 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: play such a big role and be so weak. It's 188 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: sort of like the way you make a big mess 189 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: in your house and then you come back home and 190 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,440 Speaker 1: your mom is organized the living room or whatever. Right, 191 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: some mysterious forces organized it while while you were gone. 192 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: Your mom still cleans your house. That's pretty good. Know what, 193 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: your mom cleans my house where hey, she doesn't. She 194 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: doesn't clean yours. She flies from Panama every every week 195 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: and clean your house and she doesn't even call me. 196 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: Oh my god, Maybe because I didn't celebrate Mother's Day. Yeah, exactly, 197 00:10:24,520 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: Well you should have sent her banana cake. Um No. 198 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:28,920 Speaker 1: But the point I wanted to make, the actual physics point, 199 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: not a joke, is that gravity is a force that's 200 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: sort of left over like all the other forces in 201 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 1: the universe. Electromagnetism, the strong force, the weak force. All 202 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: these forces are so powerful that they get kind of 203 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:45,840 Speaker 1: naturally balanced. Like there's no electrostatic force or electromagnetic force 204 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: between the Earth and the Sun. Why because if there were, 205 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: it would be incredibly powerful and it would balance itself 206 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 1: the way like lightning is a balancing of the electrons 207 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,320 Speaker 1: between the Earth and the sky. Right, anytime there's any 208 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: imbalance June, there's a huge bolt of lightning to balance 209 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: these things out. And so as a result, there is 210 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: no electromagnetic force between these huge celestial objects, and so 211 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: it's gravity. Gravity can't be balanced though. It's the one 212 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: force that cannot be neutralized because it only has mass. 213 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 1: There's no negative mass to balance it out. So after 214 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:21,680 Speaker 1: all the other forces have made their big mess, gravity 215 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,320 Speaker 1: sort of left to pick up the pieces. It's the 216 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:25,319 Speaker 1: only thing left on the playing field, right. Well, I 217 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 1: think it's important to maybe mention that when we say 218 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 1: it's the weakest force, it's a relative assessment, right, Like 219 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: we're we're not saying gravity is weak, it's just weak 220 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 1: relative to the electromagnetic force. Well I'm saying it. No, 221 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: I'm saying gravity is super weak. It's embarrassing. It's puny's pathetic, 222 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 1: but only only because you know other forces that are stronger. 223 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:48,839 Speaker 1: But if you didn't know the other forces, you'd be like, 224 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: oh my god. Gravity is what keeps the Earth from 225 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,200 Speaker 1: going around the Sun, and the Earth is pretty big, 226 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: so it's like a huge force. You just know that 227 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: in comparison, it's kind of wimpy. I guess, so, I mean, 228 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: I think in comparison is really the only metric we have. 229 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: It's also important to recognize how much weaker it is. 230 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: Like if you took electrons, for example, and you asked, like, 231 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: what is the force of their electrostatic repulsion compared to 232 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:17,800 Speaker 1: their gravitational um attraction, then the difference is like ten, 233 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:23,839 Speaker 1: with thirty three zeros after it. So you know, millions, billions, trillions, quadrillions. 234 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 1: You run out of numbers really quick. It's a huge difference. 235 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: It's like a completely different scale, right, So you're saying, 236 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,600 Speaker 1: if I have an electron and maybe a proton, they're 237 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: both being attracted by two forces, gravity and electromagnetism. But 238 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: you're saying the electromagnetism is thirty two orders of magnetudes 239 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 1: stronger than the gravitational force between them. Yeah, exactly, They're 240 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 1: totally different scales, exactly. Electromagnetism, I mean, it's jatillion. What 241 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: what's the word for thirty zeros? It's an alien you 242 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:00,559 Speaker 1: go be a zillion um. It's so much bigger. If 243 00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: you don't even really want to describe them in the 244 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: same level. It's like, you know, the mass of the 245 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,679 Speaker 1: Earth versus the math of mass of a penny or something. 246 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: You know, you don't you don't call a penny a 247 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,640 Speaker 1: celestial object because it isn't right so tiny, you just 248 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: sort of round it up into the earth um. Anyway, 249 00:13:15,880 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: the reason that gravity can still play on the field 250 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: at all is that these other forces are so strong 251 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 1: that they balance each other out, and gravity you can't 252 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,200 Speaker 1: do that, right, Like we were talking about one electron 253 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:30,079 Speaker 1: another electron, they repel each other, whereas an electron or 254 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,560 Speaker 1: a proton they attract each other. Right, Gravity only makes 255 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,679 Speaker 1: attractive forces. Everything with mass feels gravity and it attracts itself. 256 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,640 Speaker 1: There's no way to have repulsive gravity. And we did 257 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: a whole podcast episode about anti gravity. As far as 258 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: we know, it's not possible. So there's no way to 259 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: balance gravity out. After everybody else has done their stuff 260 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: and and been neutralized, gravity is left over, and so 261 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: then it gets to organize the universe. Yeah, I was thinking, 262 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,439 Speaker 1: like maybe an interesting picture is to imagine a proton 263 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: in the Sun and then imagine a proton and an 264 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:06,199 Speaker 1: electron on Earth. It's not that there's no electromagnetic force 265 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 1: between that proton and this proton and electron. It's just 266 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: that that the proton in the sun's pulling the electron 267 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: towards the Sun, but it's also pushing the proton away 268 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: from the Sun with the exact same force. So our 269 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:21,720 Speaker 1: pair of proton and electron here on Earth just doesn't 270 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 1: feel any electro metnetic force with that proton in the Sun, 271 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: but it does feel gravity, yeah, exactly. And you know, 272 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: there's lots of protons and electrons in the Sun, and 273 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: so they all work, they all arrange themselves in such 274 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: a way that there's effectively no net force, and there's 275 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: no way to arrange the protons electrons to get no 276 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:42,400 Speaker 1: net gravitational force. There's just no way to do that. 277 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: But I think it's interesting to think about. It's not 278 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 1: that there's no force, it's just that there's no net force, 279 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: you know, like it is pushing and pulling as electromagnetically 280 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 1: the Sun, it all just sort of cancels out. Yeah, yeah, 281 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: like it's pushing on a proton and it's pushing on 282 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: an electron the opposite direction, right, But because our proton 283 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,280 Speaker 1: and the electron are holding on together, they're they're not 284 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: going anywhere. Yeah, that's that's a fine way to think 285 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: about it. Um. And I think the other thing to 286 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 1: recognize is that gravity is really really weak, but the 287 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 1: Sun is really really big, like really really really really big, 288 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,200 Speaker 1: so it can have a pretty strong gravitational effect on 289 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:20,520 Speaker 1: the Earth even though gravity is weak, because it just 290 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: has so much mass, right, And so yeah, gravity is weak, 291 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,120 Speaker 1: but the Sun is so big that those two factors 292 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: kind of cancel each other out and it becomes an 293 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 1: important force. Yeah, the weakness accumulates exactly. You have like 294 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,600 Speaker 1: a billion people all whispering your name, it's going to 295 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: add up to a huge scream, right, And that's the 296 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,840 Speaker 1: way it is with gravity. All those protons in the 297 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:45,200 Speaker 1: Sun are giving a tiny little tug on the protons 298 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: and electrons on Earth gravitationally. But there's so many protons 299 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:50,760 Speaker 1: in the Sun that it's enough to pull a whole 300 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: planet around in a circle. Right. It's not a small 301 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 1: amount of force to keep the Earth in orbit, right, 302 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 1: It's a huge force that keeps the Earth in orbit. 303 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: Oh man, you just gave me a new nightmare. To 304 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: imagine a billion people whispering my name. That is so bizarre. 305 00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: That is kind of creepy. Actually, yes, that doesn't where 306 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,920 Speaker 1: that came from. Hey, let's all whisper Paul's name for 307 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: for father's sake, for father's days, didn't heal sense of 308 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,080 Speaker 1: disturbance in the force when that happens. Everybody listened to 309 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: me to this right now, go Paul, Paul, Happy Father's Day, Paul, 310 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: your daughter is awesome. Cool. All right, that's um Florence's 311 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: question about gravity, and so the answer Florence is that 312 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: gravity is weak, but it's also happening on such a 313 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: large scale that it does. It is enough to pool 314 00:16:52,880 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: planets and keep galaxies together, that's right. And after all 315 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: the other forces have done their business, gravity is left 316 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: over to organize the universe because it can't be balanced out. 317 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 1: All right, Well, that's one question, and we'll get to 318 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: the two other questions we have today about dark matter 319 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: and atomic nuclei. But first let's take a quick break. 320 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,639 Speaker 1: Our second question of the day comes from Margie, who 321 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: has a question about dark matter. Hey, Daniel and Jorge, 322 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 1: this is Marchie. My question is how does dark matter 323 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:36,879 Speaker 1: influence the movement of the planets in the Solar System? 324 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:38,959 Speaker 1: Does it make them all orbit at the same speed 325 00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:42,920 Speaker 1: and if so, all right, that's a pretty interesting question. Um, 326 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: we talked, we've talked a lot about dark matter in 327 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: this podcast and how it's there. It's all around us, 328 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: it's in the center of galaxies, right all over the galaxy, 329 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 1: and it's constantly pulling on everything and helping galaxy stay together. Yeah, 330 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 1: this is a wonderful question. And because this is a 331 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:03,360 Speaker 1: kind of question that shows me that people are doing 332 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: physics in their mind, right, they says, you've learned how 333 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:10,440 Speaker 1: dark matter influences how galaxies rotate, Like we discovered dark 334 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: matter because we saw the galaxies were spinning too fast 335 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,159 Speaker 1: and they need more gravity to hold them together. So 336 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: that means that dark matter makes enough gravity to be 337 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,040 Speaker 1: like noticeable about how things spin. Right, So that the 338 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: natural physics thing to do is to say, okay, I 339 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: have my new understanding, let me apply it to something else. 340 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:30,880 Speaker 1: Does that make sense? And this listener obviously thought, well, 341 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: if there's dark matter enough to affect the galaxy spinning, 342 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: why can't we notice it here on Earth? Like, why 343 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,200 Speaker 1: can't we do that same measurement and see like, hey, 344 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: the Earth is going around the Sun too fast? Can't 345 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:44,920 Speaker 1: we detect the dark matter in our Solar system by 346 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: looking at how the Earth orbits the Sun the same 347 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:49,720 Speaker 1: way we look at how the Sun orbits the center 348 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 1: of the galaxy. So it's really a genius question. Oh, 349 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: I see. The question is is the Earth going around 350 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: the Sun faster than it should be if dark matter 351 00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: didn't exist? Because imagine, for example, that there wasn't just 352 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: the Sun in the center of the Solar system. Imagine 353 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: there were five sons, but you can only see the 354 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:08,640 Speaker 1: one of them, right, and the other ones were made 355 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,439 Speaker 1: of dark matter. What would happen in that case. In 356 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,919 Speaker 1: that case, there'd be a much stronger gravitational force than 357 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,360 Speaker 1: you would expect from one Sun, and for the Earth 358 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: to stay in its orbit, it would have to go 359 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: much much faster, and so you would see a discrepancy. 360 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:24,919 Speaker 1: You'd measure the speed at which the Earth was orbiting 361 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 1: the Sun, and you'd say, huh, it's going way too fast. 362 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: What's what's um, what's keeping it together, what's keeping it 363 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: in the Solar system? Why isn't it just flying off? 364 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: And then you would deduce the presence of all those 365 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:39,640 Speaker 1: dark suns. Right, So this listener is like, well, can 366 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: we see the dark matter? Because We've said on this 367 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,679 Speaker 1: podcast several times, a dark matter is everywhere. It's not 368 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:45,720 Speaker 1: just out there, it's here, It's in this room, it's 369 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: on your planet, it's hanging out in that bunch of 370 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:49,679 Speaker 1: bananas you just ate. It's everywhere. So why can't we 371 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:51,640 Speaker 1: see it in our solar system? Right? Well, I guess 372 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,160 Speaker 1: question number one is is there dark matter in our 373 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: solar system? And then question number two is is does 374 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:00,840 Speaker 1: it influence the orbit of planets? So that Daniels, is 375 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:03,280 Speaker 1: there a dark matter here in our solar system? We 376 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 1: think so. Now we don't know for sure, and the 377 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: reason is that gravity is pretty weak, right, as we 378 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,639 Speaker 1: talked about recently, and so it's hard to get a 379 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: sense for exactly where dark matter is because the only 380 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 1: way that we can see it is is through its 381 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: gravitational effects, and so we can see its effects sort 382 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,160 Speaker 1: of like on a galaxy sized scale, but it's really 383 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,119 Speaker 1: hard to get a very clear map of where the 384 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:26,560 Speaker 1: dark matter is. But we think it probably is. We 385 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 1: think it's probably distributed pretty evenly through the galaxy. There's 386 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:31,639 Speaker 1: a blob in the very center and it sort of 387 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,200 Speaker 1: just falls off gradually. So we suspect, like we would 388 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,720 Speaker 1: see it as a haze just permeating everything exactly. And 389 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 1: you know what a deep question about dark matter is, 390 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 1: like is it just a smooth haze or are there structures? 391 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: It's a stuff happening. Is there like life forms in 392 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: dark matter? We really don't know because we haven't been 393 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 1: able to see it with enough resolution, because the only 394 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:53,240 Speaker 1: way we've ever been able to probe it is through gravity. 395 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: And that's a it's you know, real frustration for us 396 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 1: as scientists. It's like most of the matter in the 397 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: universe is there, it's in front of us. We can't 398 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,920 Speaker 1: see it. We can't tell if it's doing anything interesting 399 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 1: or just sort of a smooth haze. Right, And so 400 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:08,359 Speaker 1: the question is if we are kind of in a 401 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: bath of dark matter right now, which we could be 402 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 1: or could not be. Maybe we're like in a bubble 403 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: of non dark matter. Is that possible? We might be 404 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: in a little gap, It's possible, right, But I think 405 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 1: the most sensible and the simplest assumption is just that 406 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: dark matter is smooth, and as you say, we're in 407 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: a bath of dark matter. I think that makes the 408 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: most sense. It's it's the most likely explanation. Okay, So 409 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,200 Speaker 1: in that case, if we are bathing in dark matter, 410 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,320 Speaker 1: would it affect the orbit of the planets. So the 411 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:37,520 Speaker 1: short answer is yes, but not in a noticeable way. 412 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: And the reason is that the Solar System is not 413 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: big enough, right Like, if you take the density of 414 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,400 Speaker 1: dark matter, and we expected, it's about like one protons 415 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,240 Speaker 1: worth of dark matter about every three cubic centimeters, So 416 00:21:51,359 --> 00:21:54,160 Speaker 1: there's not actually that much dark matter spread out over 417 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,159 Speaker 1: the universe, right Like, if you sort of look at 418 00:21:56,160 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: your thumb, there's probably only one proton's worth of dark 419 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: matter in it. Yeah. If you take all the dark 420 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,880 Speaker 1: matter and you spread it out evenly through space, then 421 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: you end up with about one proton per per thumb. 422 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: I Like, the thumb is a unit of volume. Yeah, 423 00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: one dark matter proton per thumb thumbs up. Yeah, And 424 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: you might and you might be thinking, hold on, isn't 425 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:17,680 Speaker 1: there supposed to be more dark matter than normal matter? 426 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,040 Speaker 1: And there is, but there's five times as much. But 427 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,520 Speaker 1: here we're sort of spreading it evenly through space, so 428 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:25,159 Speaker 1: we can imagine how it might affect the Solar System, 429 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: but we we actually don't sort of know that, right Like, 430 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:30,359 Speaker 1: it could be all concentrated in my thumb, or it 431 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: could just be kind of this haze that's covering everything. Yes, 432 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,600 Speaker 1: it could all be concentrated in your thumb. Now there's 433 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: some limits. I mean, if dark matter was really really 434 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: clumpy and it was all concentrated in your thumb, that 435 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:43,160 Speaker 1: would be a huge amount of mass and we would 436 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,879 Speaker 1: definitely notice that, Like your thumb would be attracting stuff 437 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:47,800 Speaker 1: to it all the time, like a crazy weird magnet. 438 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:52,600 Speaker 1: My thumb is pretty attractive. Well do you hitch high 439 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: a lot? Did your thumb stop a lot of cars? Uh? Yeah, No, 440 00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: I get I get compliments from about my thumb all 441 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:02,440 Speaker 1: the time. I'm gonna believe that for a second. I 442 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:04,400 Speaker 1: don't believe that for a second. You're like, I've seen 443 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: your thumb. It's nothing special. Next time we're in a 444 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,760 Speaker 1: random situation, I'm gonna ask somebody to come in on 445 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,679 Speaker 1: your thumb and we'll just see what they say. All right, 446 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: let's do it. If you take one protons worth of 447 00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 1: dark matter per thumb and you add that all up 448 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,160 Speaker 1: inside the Solar system, it adds up to a lot. 449 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: It's like ten to the ten kms of dark matter 450 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: in the Solar system, and that might seem like, oh 451 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: my gosh, that's a huge amount, ten to the ten, 452 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: but it's small compared to the Sun, which is like 453 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,920 Speaker 1: ten to the thirty. So dark matter, if you spread 454 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 1: it out evenly, there's not enough of it in our 455 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,119 Speaker 1: solar system to influence the gravity on top of what 456 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 1: the Sun is already doing. So you're saying, like, our 457 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: solar system is a it's kind of a concentrated part 458 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,680 Speaker 1: of the universe where there's a lot of mass here 459 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: as opposed to like in the empty gas between solar systems, 460 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: And so you're saying, like, here in our neighborhood, there 461 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:59,240 Speaker 1: is just a lot more of the regular stuff than 462 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: there is dark matter. So dark matter is kind of 463 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: negligible right here where we are, exactly. Dark matter is 464 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 1: negligible for the for the gravitational effects of the Earth 465 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: and the Sun, exactly right, because mostly the Sun is 466 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: a concentrated blob of normal matter, and we don't think 467 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,920 Speaker 1: the dark matter has been concentrated in that same way. 468 00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:18,119 Speaker 1: Not only is it negligible, but it's also going to 469 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 1: spread out evenly all around us, right, So it wouldn't 470 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,200 Speaker 1: it would be sort of maybe tugging us in all 471 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:25,720 Speaker 1: directions at the same time and maybe not really affecting 472 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 1: the orbit. It would be tugging us in all directions. 473 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,159 Speaker 1: But um physics says that if you're moving in an orbit, 474 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,920 Speaker 1: you're affected by the mass of all the stuff that's 475 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 1: the smaller radius than your orbit, and you actually it 476 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: doesn't matter how that's distributed inside that radius. If it's 477 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:43,600 Speaker 1: like you know, like if the Sun was a point particle, 478 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: or the Sun was its normal size or twice its size, 479 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,919 Speaker 1: if it doesn't change its mass, the physics says that 480 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,360 Speaker 1: it doesn't affect how you're how the force of gravity 481 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:53,480 Speaker 1: acts on that body. It all integrates out to be 482 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: the same thing. So the dark matter outside of our 483 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,400 Speaker 1: orbit is just cannot affect our orbit. That's right. It's 484 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,119 Speaker 1: sort of like that episode we talked about where you 485 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,919 Speaker 1: jump into the center of the Earth. You're only affected 486 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,879 Speaker 1: by the mass of the Earth has a smaller radius 487 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:09,640 Speaker 1: than you do. Everything else outside of you cancels out 488 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 1: because there's always one bit tugging you here and another 489 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,119 Speaker 1: bit tugging you the other direction, and the stuff with 490 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:18,240 Speaker 1: a smaller orbit adds up to give you an overall tug. 491 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 1: That's the same as if you just put a particle 492 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,240 Speaker 1: with the mass of that stuff at the center of 493 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: mass of it, which would be the center of the Earth. 494 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:27,679 Speaker 1: So in this case you would still be affected by 495 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:29,639 Speaker 1: dark matter, and we are, like the orbit of the 496 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,359 Speaker 1: Earth is affected by the dark matter in the Solar system, 497 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: but it's you know, one part in tend of the twenty, 498 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,359 Speaker 1: so it's not measurable. So you're saying that we do 499 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,520 Speaker 1: sort of have like an equivalent of a dark Sun 500 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: in the middle of our Solar system affecting our orbit. 501 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,359 Speaker 1: It's just very small, that's right. Dark matter is changing 502 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 1: our lives. It makes our years shorter by one part 503 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,199 Speaker 1: and tend to the twenty because it speeds up the 504 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,919 Speaker 1: Earth because of its additional gravity. But it's you know, 505 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,639 Speaker 1: it's not something we can measure on the galaxy scale, 506 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,080 Speaker 1: though you can. And the reason it affects things on 507 00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: the galaxy scale, the reason that you can detect it 508 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: at all, is that galaxies are just so much bigger 509 00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:06,000 Speaker 1: than solar systems, and so they add up to a 510 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: huge amount of dark matter um compared to the mass 511 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:12,719 Speaker 1: of the Sun. Like the stuff in between solar systems 512 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:15,280 Speaker 1: adds up. But maybe the stuff within a Solar System 513 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:17,960 Speaker 1: doesn't add up to much exactly. So when you're calculating 514 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,479 Speaker 1: the force of gravity on the Sun as it rotates 515 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: around the center of the galaxy, it's influenced by everything 516 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,720 Speaker 1: that has a radius smaller than it's compared to the 517 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,159 Speaker 1: center of the galaxy, and that's a huge amount of 518 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:32,399 Speaker 1: dark matter. Well, I think that's probably why I was 519 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: late to the recording of this podcast. It's it was, 520 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,920 Speaker 1: you know, dark matter shortening my ear. That's right, Well, 521 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: you used up your one you know, one ten, one 522 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:44,080 Speaker 1: in ten of the twenty a year, so you need 523 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:48,880 Speaker 1: another excuse next, no build over my entire life and 524 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,200 Speaker 1: leading up to me being late to this podcast, it's 525 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:52,920 Speaker 1: not that you were finishing that one last piece of 526 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 1: banana cream cake. No, no, I finished that, Yester. Al Right. 527 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:01,199 Speaker 1: So that's Marki's question about whether dark matter affects the 528 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,800 Speaker 1: orbits of the planets in our Solar system, and the 529 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,480 Speaker 1: answer is yes, we kind of do have a dark 530 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: matter sun in our dark dark matter mass in our 531 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,679 Speaker 1: Solar system, making everything just a little bit faster, go 532 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: faster around the Solar System, but it's really not measurable, 533 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: and without seeing how galaxy spin, I don't think we 534 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: ever would have discovered dark matter just by looking at 535 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,280 Speaker 1: the orbit of the Earth. All right, thank you, Margie, 536 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,919 Speaker 1: And so we'll get to our last question from Prita 537 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:45,920 Speaker 1: when we get back from a quick break. Alright, our 538 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: last question of this episode comes from Preda, and she 539 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:54,439 Speaker 1: has a question about why the nucleus is stable. I 540 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:56,840 Speaker 1: imagine the nucleus of an atom, right, what else could 541 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:58,680 Speaker 1: it be about the nucleus of what the cell, the 542 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:03,160 Speaker 1: nucleus of a banana? At This is a physics podcast, man, 543 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:07,000 Speaker 1: So here's a Prettius question. My name is Pritto, and 544 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,679 Speaker 1: my question is why is the nucleus of an atom 545 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:14,880 Speaker 1: even stable? The nucleus of atom has protons which are 546 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:19,680 Speaker 1: positively charged. They're supposed to reple each other and they're 547 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,239 Speaker 1: not supposed to stay to Please explain why does this happen? Right? 548 00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: So Preta wants to know how a nucleus can be 549 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,880 Speaker 1: stable like because then the nuclei of atoms are made 550 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:35,199 Speaker 1: up of protons mostly right, and nucle and neutrons but 551 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:37,919 Speaker 1: mostly but a lot of protons, and all the protons 552 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 1: are positively charged, so they should be repelling each other 553 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,000 Speaker 1: with the electro magnetic force. Yeah, So how how do 554 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,800 Speaker 1: how can they all stay together? How? How is it 555 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 1: that you and I are here? Daniel? Yeah, I love 556 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 1: that we're talking about forces and force, bouncing and all 557 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,280 Speaker 1: these questions today. This is a great question, right, And 558 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: they all are positive and they are pushing away from 559 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: from each other. So what holds it together? There? Um? 560 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,400 Speaker 1: I don't know, that's a really positive thing, I think, yeah, 561 00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: and kind of negative to well. I'm kind of neutral 562 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: on the topic. But I was wondering whether people knew 563 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 1: about this, like is this a common question? Do people 564 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 1: have an idea? So actually, yesterday when my kids were 565 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,160 Speaker 1: watching a movie, I walked around the mall here in 566 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: Irvine and I asked people, um if they knew what 567 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,720 Speaker 1: kept the nucleus together? And I got some interesting answers. Cool. 568 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 1: So here's what people had to say. Do you know 569 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: why the nucleus stays together? Like what keeps it together 570 00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:33,880 Speaker 1: if it's all positive charges opposite course on the outside, 571 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: or what holds an atom together? Huh? Right, I'm sure 572 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: I learned that in physics long ago, but I can't remember. 573 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,480 Speaker 1: I don't know about that one. I don't know more 574 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: electrons they stay together because the more protons there are, 575 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,239 Speaker 1: the heavier the atomic weight. So what do you think 576 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: Now we're getting random people on the street to answer 577 00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:58,040 Speaker 1: listen to questions. Eventually we don't even need to be 578 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: here anymore, right, Yeah, I wish you just crowdsource this podcast, 579 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 1: just going the mom and be like, hey, here's the question. 580 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: We'll give you twenty bucks to talk about it for 581 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: forty minutes. Exactly. That's our retirement plan. Uh No, this 582 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:13,880 Speaker 1: one was interesting enough, and I really was curious about 583 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:15,719 Speaker 1: what people knew. So I thought, we don't often do 584 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 1: this for listening to questions, but I did the man 585 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,720 Speaker 1: of the street interviews for this one. Well, I'm surprised 586 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 1: that people kind of I knew a little bit of 587 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,320 Speaker 1: what you were talking about, right, because they they were like, oh, 588 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:28,760 Speaker 1: you mean like the O an Adam, and they sort 589 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: of understood the question because it's not an easy question 590 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,440 Speaker 1: to get your head around, right. No, it's not an 591 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,239 Speaker 1: easy question. It's not a simple answer. But you're right, 592 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:38,720 Speaker 1: people understood the question and that was cool. Um, so 593 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:40,520 Speaker 1: I think it is a common question. And all these 594 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:42,360 Speaker 1: people after I asked them, they're like, we tell me 595 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:44,440 Speaker 1: what is the answer? You can't just walk away after 596 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: asking me that question. I have to know now it's 597 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,320 Speaker 1: like inspire this burning desire and them to understand why 598 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: their nuclei were not flying apart. Do you try to 599 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: when you're roaming the malls looking for people? Do you 600 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: try to always hit like the you know, the dad 601 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 1: or the mom just waiting for their kids or their 602 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 1: spouse who's dropping. I try to ask people who are 603 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 1: on their phone board. Yeah. I don't interrupt people in 604 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: conversation or people who look like they're going somewhere. I 605 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:09,600 Speaker 1: look for somebody who's like sitting there on their phone 606 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,520 Speaker 1: obviously waiting for somebody to like try on pants or something, 607 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 1: so they don't they don't. I don't want to interrupt 608 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:18,520 Speaker 1: somebody's day. You're going to the dressing room, You're like, hey, 609 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: I have a physics question for you, friendly neighborhood physicist. 610 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 1: Physicists arrested at local mall and then I ask people 611 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,040 Speaker 1: in the next cell when I get arrested. All right, 612 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: so let's ask you the question. So how is it 613 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: that protons stick together inside the nuclei of atoms? Yeah, Well, 614 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:39,720 Speaker 1: to answer this question, you need to understand a little 615 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: bit about how protons and neutrons are held together because 616 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 1: protons and neutrons, remember, are not fundamental particles, but they're 617 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 1: made of quarks. So there's up corks and down corks, 618 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: and those particles are held together by a different force 619 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 1: called the strong nuclear force, and it's called the strong 620 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: nuclear force because it's super duper strong. It's much much 621 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: stronger an electromagnetism, which of course puts gravity to shame. 622 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:05,920 Speaker 1: So the strong nuclear force is the strongest, most powerful 623 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: force we've ever discovered, and that's what holds the protons together. Yeah, 624 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,479 Speaker 1: it's the reason the protons and the neutrons their bound 625 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,720 Speaker 1: states of this force, so that there's quarks inside the 626 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: proton and quirks inside the neutron, and they're exchanging gluons 627 00:32:20,320 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 1: all the time. There is this particle called a gluon 628 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 1: which holds the corks together into a proton and into 629 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:30,200 Speaker 1: a neutron. So that's what holds the protons and neutrons together. 630 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:33,840 Speaker 1: But what what keeps the protons from repelling each other? Yeah, 631 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: so the strong nuclear force which holds them together. It's 632 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: very short range, like it's super powerful, but it doesn't 633 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,920 Speaker 1: go very far, but it extends a little bit of 634 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,680 Speaker 1: ways past the edge of the proton, and so what 635 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:47,480 Speaker 1: happens is that there's a little bit of the strong 636 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,760 Speaker 1: nuclear force left over between the corks inside the proton 637 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,880 Speaker 1: and neutron to attract the protons and neutrons to each other. 638 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 1: So even this little extra bit of the strong nuclear 639 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:01,000 Speaker 1: force is enough to overcome the pulsion of the protons 640 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: because they have the same charge. Oh really, I never 641 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:07,120 Speaker 1: thought about that? Is that? Is that? How you explain it? 642 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: Is that the force that's keeping the protons together is 643 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:14,320 Speaker 1: also the force that keeps a proton stuck to another proton, 644 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 1: because it's sort of leaks outside of the proton. Yeah. Essentially, 645 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:20,040 Speaker 1: it's like the quarks in one proton are talking a 646 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 1: little bit with the quirks in the neighboring proton or 647 00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 1: the neighboring neutron, and to them, the fact that there's 648 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 1: like an overall positive charge in protons and um and 649 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,760 Speaker 1: not a neutrons is irrelevant because those forces are so 650 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,200 Speaker 1: weak compared to the strong nuclear force. The strong nuclear 651 00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: force doesn't care about your electro magnetic charge, right, Yeah, exactly, 652 00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,920 Speaker 1: doesn't care at all. And the corks do have electromagnetic 653 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,040 Speaker 1: charges and Actually they're really weird that like two thirds 654 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,720 Speaker 1: charges and minus one thirds charge. They're pretty strange, but 655 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:51,080 Speaker 1: they're the forces are much weaker than the strong nuclear force. 656 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,719 Speaker 1: So the strong nuclear force sort of leaks out of 657 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,360 Speaker 1: the proton and into the next neutron and into that 658 00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 1: next neutron, and that's how they tie themselves together. There's 659 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:01,800 Speaker 1: enough lefto or after you make the proton or the 660 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:04,320 Speaker 1: neutron to tie it to the next one. How can 661 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 1: there be any leftover? I mean, if if the proton 662 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: is stable right like it likes being held together, how 663 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: can it have any leftover? You know, attraction, doesn't it 664 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:19,040 Speaker 1: all just cancel out within the proton? How can you 665 00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,319 Speaker 1: have some left over to attract more protons? Now, you're right, 666 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:24,840 Speaker 1: and it would if all the corks inside the proton 667 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,000 Speaker 1: were like right on top of each other, but they're not. 668 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:29,680 Speaker 1: They're like all slashing around. So if you're like on 669 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: one side of the proton, you're a little bit closer 670 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:34,440 Speaker 1: to one of the corks than the other two, and 671 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: so the force from that one little cork is enough 672 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,520 Speaker 1: to have like a little bit of leftover charge. So 673 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:46,560 Speaker 1: actually maybe two protons being stuck together makes them weaker inside, right, 674 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,400 Speaker 1: each one is maybe just a little bit weaker because 675 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:50,960 Speaker 1: they're stuck to each other. You can think of it 676 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,520 Speaker 1: sort of the way you know atoms for molecules, right, 677 00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:58,160 Speaker 1: and atom is electrically neutral, right, because the protons and 678 00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:01,719 Speaker 1: the electrons right are balanced. But how do atoms form 679 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: molecules their bonds between the electrons because the electrons, you know, 680 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:06,799 Speaker 1: they talk to each other and one like jumps from 681 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:10,239 Speaker 1: here to there, and they exchange photons and stuff and 682 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,759 Speaker 1: so um, this is like protons getting stuck together by 683 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:16,560 Speaker 1: those extra little bits of leftover forces. So it's a 684 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,480 Speaker 1: strong nuclear force that's so much more powerful than electromagnetism 685 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,759 Speaker 1: that even the little extra leftover bits can overpower the 686 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:26,440 Speaker 1: protons pushing away from each other. This strikes me as 687 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:30,759 Speaker 1: a little bit as a nuclear infidelity. You know, like 688 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: you've got three quarts being perfectly happy in a bond 689 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,439 Speaker 1: to make a proton, but then one of them is like, hey, 690 00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: look at that. There's some other quartz over there, and 691 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:45,160 Speaker 1: that other trio mana protons um a little bit attracted 692 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:47,440 Speaker 1: to them too, and so that's what brings the two 693 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,279 Speaker 1: things together. Right. Yeah, quarks feel a lot of love, right, 694 00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: They they're happy to to share their love with quarks 695 00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:57,799 Speaker 1: even inside other protons and neutrons, and and and you know, 696 00:35:57,880 --> 00:35:59,640 Speaker 1: the sort of a limit how much you can do 697 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,719 Speaker 1: this because these forces are very short range, and so 698 00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:06,719 Speaker 1: the bigger the nucleus gets, then the weaker the sort 699 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:09,080 Speaker 1: of the stability of the nucleus. If you try to 700 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:11,680 Speaker 1: make a nucleus that's too big, then like the protons 701 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: on the opposite sides of the nucleus, they'll feel the 702 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,680 Speaker 1: electrostatic repulsion, but they won't be close enough to feel 703 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,880 Speaker 1: the strong nuclear force anymore. And that's why like heavier 704 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,239 Speaker 1: elements are less stable and more likely like decay radioactively. 705 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 1: That's why we use uranium and like uranium two thirty 706 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,280 Speaker 1: five to do radioactive fission, and not like helium or lithium. 707 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:34,440 Speaker 1: Put enough protons together, they bunch up, and at some 708 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:38,319 Speaker 1: point the nuclear force, the strong force, isn't enough. They 709 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,040 Speaker 1: start to repel each other exactly because the strong force 710 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:44,279 Speaker 1: drops very quickly with distance, right, And so if you're 711 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:46,560 Speaker 1: far enough away from the proton, then you don't feel 712 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:48,160 Speaker 1: it then all. Then it's like all the corks are 713 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,279 Speaker 1: on top of each other, and so that's why there's 714 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:52,840 Speaker 1: like a maximum size you can make to a nucleus 715 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,279 Speaker 1: because the strong force which holds it together it's a 716 00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:57,759 Speaker 1: very short range. And when the nucleus gets sort of 717 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,720 Speaker 1: bigger than that range, then it can't do the job anymore. 718 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:02,520 Speaker 1: It's like, you know, you trying to hold a bunch 719 00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,000 Speaker 1: of balloons, right, Imagine trying to hold a huge pile 720 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: of balloons. Is a maximum number you can hold until 721 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,120 Speaker 1: somebody You need somebody else to come over and grab 722 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 1: a bunch of them. So then the nucleus splits into two. 723 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:18,920 Speaker 1: And that's what happens in a radioactive decay. Alright, So 724 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:21,439 Speaker 1: then that's the answer to the question. The nucleus stays 725 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: together even though the protons are are repelling each other, 726 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:27,600 Speaker 1: they're trying to push each other apart. There is another 727 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:31,480 Speaker 1: force that leaks out from inside of each proton that 728 00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,480 Speaker 1: then sort of links up the two protons together, and 729 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:38,600 Speaker 1: that force is stronger than the electric magnetic repulsion exactly. 730 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,000 Speaker 1: That's what holds them together, and that's what holds us 731 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 1: together with you, listeners, the force of these questions. You guys, 732 00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:47,239 Speaker 1: have all these questions bouncing around your head, and you 733 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:49,319 Speaker 1: send them to us, and we love thinking about them, 734 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: we love talking about them, and we love trying to 735 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:53,160 Speaker 1: explain them to you. And really it's this love of 736 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,759 Speaker 1: the universe and this desire to ask questions and this 737 00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:58,800 Speaker 1: hunger to get the answers that brings us all together. 738 00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:02,120 Speaker 1: All right, Well, thank you so much to Florence, Margie 739 00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,200 Speaker 1: and Pritta for sending in their questions, and thanks to 740 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:07,399 Speaker 1: all of you who are sending us questions as well. 741 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 1: We enjoy reading them and it kind of makes our 742 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:13,239 Speaker 1: day to hear from you. Guys. Absolutely, please don't stop 743 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:17,360 Speaker 1: sending questions questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. All right, 744 00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:20,040 Speaker 1: and that's our podcast. We hope you enjoyed those questions, 745 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:24,480 Speaker 1: and stay tuned for more amazing facts and questions and 746 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: interesting perspectives about the universe. And stay tuned for the 747 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: sound of Jorge enjoying a banana cake. That's right, one 748 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:35,640 Speaker 1: of you lucky people will win this prize. Lucky unlucky. 749 00:38:35,719 --> 00:38:38,800 Speaker 1: We're not sure, but somebody's gonna win it. Positive and negative. 750 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:49,280 Speaker 1: See you next time. If you still have a question 751 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,759 Speaker 1: after listening to all these explanations, please drop us a line. 752 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:54,920 Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. You can find us 753 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,759 Speaker 1: at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Daniel and Jorge That's 754 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:02,040 Speaker 1: one Word, or e fail us at feedback at Daniel 755 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:05,200 Speaker 1: and Jorge dot com. Thanks for listening and remember that 756 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is a production of 757 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcast from My Heart Radio, 758 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:15,280 Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 759 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:17,080 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.