1 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,800 Speaker 1: Hey, or hey, you're a visual artist, so I have 2 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: a question for you about how you visualize things. Well, 3 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: first of all, thank you for calling me an artist. 4 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:21,720 Speaker 1: Cartoonist don't usually get that kind of respect. But do 5 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: you mean can I draw my answer? Yeah, maybe when 6 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: we upgrade this podcast to a YouTube channel, But until then, 7 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: here's my question. What is the biggest distance that you 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: can visualize that you can sort of see in your mind? Well, 9 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,120 Speaker 1: I think anything bigger than the distance between my bed 10 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: and the fridge feels like an infinity. I guess maybe 11 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:47,480 Speaker 1: like the biggest distance that I can wrap my head 12 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: around would be maybe like the size of the solar system, 13 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: you know, Like I think I have a intuitive sense 14 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: of that, but maybe anything bigger it just kind of 15 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: blows my mind. All right, So then turn it around. 16 00:00:58,800 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 1: What is the small all this distance that you can visualize? 17 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: Probably the width of a thinly sliced banana. Feels like 18 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: maybe you should have had a snack before we did 19 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: today's podcast. I am Rhammad, cartoonists and the creator of 20 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: PhD comments. Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist and 21 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: I don't eat bananas no matter how then you slice 22 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: them really you're anti banana like you avoid them. I'm 23 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:44,959 Speaker 1: anti bananite, yes on the air. I didn't know that. 24 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: Oh my god, how do we even get along all 25 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: these years? I don't know if we I can continue 26 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: doing this with you anymore. So if you if you 27 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: get him in a salad, you picked them out or something. 28 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: How far puts banana in a salad? What are you 29 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: talking about? You were offending salads? How far this is 30 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: anti bananas? Goes go? Daniel, Well, let's see, if I 31 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 1: was dying of starvation next to banana tree, I would 32 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: eat some bananas. I'll put it that way. I would. 33 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: I see. Oh man, you don't know what you're missing. 34 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: But for those of you who are not anti banana, 35 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: welcome to this podcast. Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, 36 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: a production of Our Heart Radio, and banana lovers and 37 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: banana haters are all welcome on this podcast because we 38 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: only the lovers, because we all share the love of 39 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: the universe and the mystery is and the incredible cosmic 40 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: questions like how can anybody stand to eat a banana? No? Like? 41 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: How big is our universe? And does it all make sense? 42 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: Should ever rebody Daniel that bananas are part of the universe. 43 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: If you love the universe, technically you love bananas. But 44 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: welcome to our podcast, in which we do try to 45 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: explore everything around us, including bananas and other delicious or 46 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,160 Speaker 1: non delicious items, and explore lane how it all works 47 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: to you. Yeah, we try to think about the bigness 48 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: of the universe, the limits of space and planets and stars, 49 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,239 Speaker 1: but we also like to talk about the small things 50 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: in life and in the universe, and and sometimes it 51 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: really stretches your mind right to sort of sort of 52 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,680 Speaker 1: in one conversation think about how big the universe is 53 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: and how also how small things are. Yeah, and we 54 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: try to take you on a tour of the sort 55 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 1: of current thinking of scientists. How do scientists think about 56 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: this stuff? How do they fit the whole universe in 57 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: their brains? Or what do they visualize when they think 58 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 1: about the inside of a black hole? Or how do 59 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: scientists think about the very very tiny What does a 60 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: particle look like inside the mind of a party goal physicist? Yeah, 61 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: because you know, we know that the universe is made 62 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: out of tiny little particles, and we like to say 63 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: tiny little particles. But I guess you don't often think 64 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: about it, what tiny really means. Yeah, we do this 65 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: a lot when we think about the quantum realm. We 66 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: try to sort of use the ideas we have from 67 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: our everyday experience and apply them to particles, apply them 68 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:04,720 Speaker 1: to these tiny little bits so that we can make 69 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: sense of them, because you know, you can't see these 70 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: things directly, so you have to sort of build a 71 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: mental picture, and we try to talk about how they 72 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: have mass and charge, and we even give them you know, 73 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,480 Speaker 1: labor and spin and other sorts of things that were 74 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: familiar with from our world. But you have to wonder, like, 75 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: how well does that really work? Is it really relevant 76 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: or is the quantum realm just totally alien and we 77 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: will never really get our minds around it. Yeah, I 78 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: thought we had already decided that everything looks like Lego 79 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:37,159 Speaker 1: pieces down at the fundamental level. They don't look like 80 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: little blocks with circles that say Lego on them. Well, 81 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: it's easy to do a test. You know, if you 82 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 1: step on them and they cause you great pain, then 83 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: they definitely are the shape of Lego pieces. I think 84 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: they make round legos too. Now finally to save parents, 85 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: But you know, this is all we can do as 86 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,680 Speaker 1: humans is we can take the ideas we are familiar 87 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: with and we can try to map them down to 88 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: the quantum realm to think about this. Yeah, and sometimes 89 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: that intuition kind of fails, right, or it breaks down 90 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: when you get down to that quantum realm, that quantum level, right, 91 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 1: our ideas of what something is, or how solid something is, 92 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: or what shape it has, and it all sort of 93 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: breaks down into kind of mathematical goop right down at 94 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: the quantum. I think it has a little bit more 95 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: substance than mathematical GOOPI gloop, but really it's a bit 96 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 1: more No, it's a bit more poetic than mathematical sometimes 97 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: because well, we try to draw connections, like we talk 98 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 1: about quantum spin, and we fully admit that these particles 99 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: are not actually spinning, but they're doing something that is 100 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: very much like spin. It has a lot of similar characteristics, 101 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: and so we draw this analogy. And I think this 102 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: is one of the most beautiful things about physics, is 103 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: trying to describe the unknown in terms of the known. 104 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: You know, that's what languages, that's what art is, that's 105 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: what that's what it means to explore the universe is 106 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: to express it in a way that we can understand it, 107 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: and so that's all we can do. Yeah, are you 108 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: saying you don't understand google Goog? I'm saying googly groop 109 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: suggests some lack of understanding or nonsense, whereas in its 110 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,479 Speaker 1: place there are some elegant intellectual structures to guide your mind. 111 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: I see, you know, potato, potato again, theoretical structures, googly goog, 112 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: it's all, it's all, you know, different names. But so 113 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:28,479 Speaker 1: to the other podcast, we thought we would take a 114 00:06:28,480 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: trip down to that quantum level and kind of think 115 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: about a particular, you know, object that I think we're 116 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,599 Speaker 1: all familiar with, and to sort of challenge our understanding 117 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: of what it looks like and what shape it has 118 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: and most importantly, what size it has down at the 119 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: quantum realm. And this is something that I have struggled 120 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: with as a particle physicist, just trying to visualize, just 121 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 1: trying to conceptualize it. How do I put this in 122 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: my mind? How do I think about this so I 123 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,719 Speaker 1: can get some intuition right? And so today we'll be 124 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 1: tackling the question how big is an electron? Or how 125 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: small is an electron? Oh? Man, is this another potato 126 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: po typle thing. It's big and small depending on which 127 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: country here. The representatives of the Electron Union prefer to 128 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: be called big rather than small. Oh, I see, But 129 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: what does the electron itself prefer? Does it see itself 130 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: as a as a big or a little? Interview with 131 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: an Electron speculative fiction novel by J H winner of 132 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,600 Speaker 1: the Nobel Price in literature and physics at the same time. 133 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: But yeah, you know, electrons are everywhere. They're one of 134 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: the three fundamental particles that make up everything that we are, 135 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,000 Speaker 1: that you are, That planets and stars and galaxies and 136 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: dust are made out of um. And so it's an 137 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 1: important particle. And it makes yourself phone work, which without 138 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: which you would probably not be listening to this podcast. Yeah, 139 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: and it sort of sits at the frontier of particle physics. 140 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: Our goal is to explain everything in the universe in 141 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: terms of the smallest bits and pieces, the tiniest, roundest 142 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: lego pieces anywhere, And as far as we know, these 143 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: are the smallest bits. And so we wonder, like, is 144 00:08:11,320 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: it made of something smaller? How small is this thing? Anyway? Yeah, 145 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:18,120 Speaker 1: what's the size of an electron? I guess that's a 146 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,560 Speaker 1: question we haven't really talked about before. We just sort 147 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: of talked about electron and what they can do and 148 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: what they do, and we know they're small. But I 149 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: guess the question here is how small it is? Or 150 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: how big is it? Not? How big isn't it? Yeah, 151 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:32,679 Speaker 1: And like with many of these mappings to the quantum realm, 152 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:35,320 Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure you're going to be dissatisfied with the 153 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: answer because did you misname something again? Is it not 154 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:44,280 Speaker 1: really called? Is it like an electron? Not really an electron? Well, 155 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: I don't want to give away the end there, you'll 156 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: have to stick around for another half hour. Well, this 157 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: is a question that, as always, we were wondering how 158 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: many people out there had thought about or wondered about 159 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: and what they knew about the answer to this question. So, 160 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: as usual, Daniel went out there into the wilderness of 161 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: the streets of Irvine, California and ask people how big 162 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: they thought an electron is. I like the way you 163 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: make it sound dangerous, like I'm hacking my way through 164 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: the jungle. I think talking to perfect strangers, it sounds 165 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: terrified to me. Well, here's what people had to say. 166 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: But before you hear these answers, think to yourself, what 167 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: would you guess is the size of an electron? Very small? 168 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: I know, like a couple of billion Adams can fit 169 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:29,119 Speaker 1: on a period in in a book, So an electron 170 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,680 Speaker 1: is Chillian quadrillion. I don't know. Sudden thinkers like small, 171 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: like smaller than that. Best guys like like a hundred 172 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: of a nanometer ten to the minus sixteen. Well, I 173 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:46,319 Speaker 1: guess it's when it's a way function falls off? Is 174 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: one over eight or something like that? Is that how 175 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: we want to call it? What's thirteen point six e 176 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 1: v s and nanometers that it does red stuff? So 177 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: a couple d nanometers? Let's doing that? Also, no idea, 178 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:04,199 Speaker 1: best es not that big tend to the negative on 179 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 1: all eleven or twelve or something like that. Like all right, 180 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: some pretty I feel like, pretty educated answers, Like some 181 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 1: people were talking about electron volts even I like the 182 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,360 Speaker 1: guy who says smaller than a centimeter, like yeah, that's 183 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:25,640 Speaker 1: that's true, yes and also correct, Yes, it's definitely correct. Um. No, 184 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: we shouldn't make fun of these people. They are giving 185 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 1: us their time, their and their energy, and so it's 186 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: fun just to just to know what people have in 187 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: their minds. And I think one of the common answers 188 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: is like, tend to the mind is a pretty big number. 189 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: But yeah, know I thought they were pretty I guess 190 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:41,319 Speaker 1: you're at a at a university, so maybe a lot 191 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:45,079 Speaker 1: of these folks just think in physics or something. But um, 192 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: you know, if you ask me, I don't know if 193 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: I would guess with exact figures or units. Well it's 194 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: interesting because if you ask me, I don't know what 195 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:56,160 Speaker 1: I would say. It's a tricky question. Even what is 196 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: the meaning of the question, Like what does it mean 197 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: for the electron to have a side? Is? So it's complicated. 198 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: So someone interviewed on you on the street and ask 199 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: you this question, you'd be like, let's sit down for 200 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:11,760 Speaker 1: a couple of hours, let me pull out my white board, 201 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: thank you for asking that question. And you see the 202 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: panic in their eyes. I've been waiting all my life 203 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,000 Speaker 1: for perfect strangers. They would feign a phone call and 204 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 1: run away quickly. All right, Well, let's get into the 205 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:24,960 Speaker 1: trying to answer this question. And I guess the first 206 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,079 Speaker 1: thing is is that you're telling me is that this 207 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 1: is even Um, it's kind of almost a philosophical question. 208 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: It's like a tricky question in itself to ask what 209 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: is the size of an electron? Yeah, And you have 210 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:37,719 Speaker 1: to be really careful about what you're doing. When you're 211 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:41,439 Speaker 1: asking a question that you're used to asking about macroscopic 212 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: stuff and then applying that to microscopic stuff, you have 213 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: to be really careful about what you mean and what 214 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: exactly it is you're trying to learn. You know, like 215 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: when we think about a ball moving through space, we 216 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: can talk about its velocity. Cool, But when you want 217 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: to talk about the velocity of an electron, it's more 218 00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: complicated because it doesn't have like the same kind of 219 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: half and so it's philosophy changes, and sometimes you can 220 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: know it, sometimes it's unknown, and so you know, there's 221 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,000 Speaker 1: an analogy you can make there, but you have to 222 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:10,560 Speaker 1: be careful about exactly what you're asking. And the same 223 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,079 Speaker 1: is true when you ask about the size of something 224 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:16,840 Speaker 1: super duper tiny, right, and and especially when you ask 225 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 1: about the size of a single thing, right, Like what 226 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,319 Speaker 1: is it? What does it even mean to ask about 227 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: the size of anything? Is it like how much space 228 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: you occupy? Is it like the my longest dimension? Is 229 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: it the distance between you know, one and one side 230 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: of me to the other side of me. I think 231 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:36,880 Speaker 1: that's it. I think it's the distance between your edges. 232 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 1: And so you have a size if you have edges 233 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: that don't touch, right, if you have if there's a 234 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: meaning to like there being a left of view and 235 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:46,959 Speaker 1: a right of view, and your size is the distance 236 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 1: between them. You know, we have a meter stick, how 237 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: big is it? Well, the left side is one meter 238 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: from the right side. So that's sort of makes sense, right, 239 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: And this this all sounds, you know, obvious, but it's 240 00:12:57,800 --> 00:12:59,440 Speaker 1: going to be important when we get to the quantum 241 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:01,600 Speaker 1: realm to be thinking about it in the same same 242 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:04,679 Speaker 1: sort of set of ideas. Right, Yeah, I guess you've 243 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:08,080 Speaker 1: got to think about what makes it a thing and 244 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:10,719 Speaker 1: when is it stopped being a thing? And then then 245 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,560 Speaker 1: you calculate kind of the distance between the edges of 246 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:16,200 Speaker 1: what is and what is not a thing. Yeah, And 247 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: so you answer the question like what a size mean, Well, 248 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:20,679 Speaker 1: it's the distance between the edges and that immediately, but 249 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: you can see you to the other question, what is 250 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:24,640 Speaker 1: the edge, Like what is the edge of a meter 251 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: stick or the edge of a banana? How do you 252 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,760 Speaker 1: define where that stops? And that's not so easy. Oh man, 253 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: you just make me imagine it endless banana and I 254 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: salivated a little bit. That's a whole universe to you, 255 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,959 Speaker 1: right there. Man, maybe the whole universe is just one banana. 256 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: We are all just banana nos in a banana. We 257 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,199 Speaker 1: should start that in the restaurant. You know, Olive Garden 258 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 1: has the endless bowl of salad, endless bread stick. We 259 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: can we can start selling the endless banana. But anyways, 260 00:13:51,679 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: so where is the edge of the banana? Right? You 261 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: would think, oh, I'm looking at it, I can tell 262 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,360 Speaker 1: where it stops. And you either you poke it or 263 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,559 Speaker 1: you're just looking at it. It sort of gives you 264 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: a sense for like where the edges. It doesn't have 265 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,760 Speaker 1: a fuzzy edge, like it stops the all the atoms 266 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: that make up the banana are kind of stuck together, 267 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:10,880 Speaker 1: and at some point there aren't any more of the 268 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: atoms that make up the banana. Yeah, although, if you're 269 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 1: zooming close enough right, everything that's not an absolute zero 270 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:19,680 Speaker 1: is has a bit of a fuzzy edge, you know, 271 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: it's like boiling off atoms. Like the reason you can 272 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:25,080 Speaker 1: smell banana is that there are volatile molecules on it 273 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: that are always leaving and so zooming close enough, and 274 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 1: there's there's a bit of a fuzzy edge there. But 275 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: still you can like take a stick and you can 276 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: poke the banana with your tiny stick and you can ask, like, 277 00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: when does the banana give me resistance? Or is the 278 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: edge of it is sort of like, you know, where 279 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 1: is it push back? Okay, so that that would be 280 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,480 Speaker 1: the edge of like an object microscopic option you're saying. 281 00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:48,840 Speaker 1: It has to do with when it no longer interacts 282 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 1: with you in the same way as the rest of 283 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: the banana. Yeah, And there's an important idea there, I think, 284 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: which is it's not where the stuff of the banana ends, 285 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 1: it's where the bananas forces push back. Because you know, 286 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,720 Speaker 1: the banana itself is mostly made of these we'll talk 287 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:06,960 Speaker 1: about in a minute, but time much smaller particles, and 288 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: the stuff of the banana, the thing that gives it 289 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: its volume is the forces. Right, If there were no 290 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: forces between these particles, they will collapse to a much 291 00:15:14,400 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: smaller pile. Like you just made a pile of all 292 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: the atoms inside the banana, it would be almost invisible. 293 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: Most of that volume comes from them spacing each other. 294 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: Out by the forces. So it's really the forces, the 295 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,880 Speaker 1: pushing back that gives the banana it's volume and therefore 296 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: its size. I see, you wouldn't measure it as between 297 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: the center of the rightmost atom of the banana to 298 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: the center of the leftmost atom of the banana. You 299 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:41,120 Speaker 1: would be you would extend that a little bit to 300 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: include like when that atom starts pushing back another adom 301 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: that tries to poke through the banana. Precisely because if 302 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: you bring your stick nearby, then the farthest, the most 303 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: extreme atom and your stick is not going to touch 304 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:56,920 Speaker 1: the nucleus of that atom in your banana. They're going 305 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: to push against each other before they touch. And so 306 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:01,680 Speaker 1: that's what I think of sort of the edge of 307 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: the banana is that force field that sort of protects 308 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,080 Speaker 1: it from you know, external forces. Okay, so you're saying, 309 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: as a physicist, you would define the size of something 310 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: as as the edges of it, and the edges you 311 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 1: would define is when they start pushing other things from 312 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 1: going through it. Yeah, So really it's more about interactions 313 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: than it is about matter itself and particle physics, we 314 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 1: think a lot about particles and forces, matter and interactions. 315 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 1: And I think the size of something really depends more 316 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: on its interactions then on the stuff that's inside of it. 317 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 1: And that makes sense because if you want to know 318 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: the size of something, you want to know it for 319 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: a reason usually right, like you want to see if 320 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 1: the banana fits inside of a special you know, banana 321 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:47,080 Speaker 1: carrying case that you aren't designing. You need to know, 322 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: you know, not when the set where the centers of 323 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:52,000 Speaker 1: the atoms are, but you want to know, you know, 324 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 1: if you can fit the banana inside the case. That's 325 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: exactly it. But it already raises some problems, like what 326 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: if you had a blob of dark batter the shape 327 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,760 Speaker 1: of a banana, how big is it? Well, if you 328 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: can't really interact with it, if you could like put 329 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,440 Speaker 1: your finger through it, then you know, does that mean 330 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: that it's a banana shaped and blob of dark batter 331 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: is smaller? It doesn't have a size maybe even boy. Yeah, 332 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: so it gets it gets tricky pretty quickly. This thing, 333 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:22,400 Speaker 1: which which we thought was simple is actually turns out 334 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: to be kind of subtle. Yeah, it's feel back the 335 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: answer to this question and also get into how big 336 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:30,160 Speaker 1: an atom is, and then we'll get into how big 337 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:32,720 Speaker 1: an electron it is. But first let's take a quick break, 338 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:47,960 Speaker 1: all right, Daniel. So it seems like the question of 339 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 1: how big something is is kind of fuzzy in itself, 340 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: and so maybe a good way to kind of tackle 341 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:56,640 Speaker 1: it is to start with the next level down from 342 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: a banana, which is like how big is a is 343 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: one of the atoms in the in the banana. So 344 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,400 Speaker 1: remember that we decided that if we're going to talk 345 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,000 Speaker 1: about the size of the atom, we're not going to 346 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: ask where is the stuff inside of it? We're gonna 347 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:12,719 Speaker 1: ask where does it push back when it's poked? And 348 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:14,920 Speaker 1: to figure that out, it's helpful to sort of imagine 349 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: a whole pile of atoms packed together. Here you have 350 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: you like imagine the banana is sort of like a crystal. 351 00:18:21,359 --> 00:18:24,159 Speaker 1: You know, it's like closely packed atoms of the banana. 352 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,919 Speaker 1: And here it's determined again by the interaction between them, 353 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: Like how closely packed are they depends on how much 354 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,720 Speaker 1: they resist being squeezed together. And in this case, for 355 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:37,160 Speaker 1: an atom, it's you know, for banana. For other stuff, 356 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,400 Speaker 1: it's a it's pretty small. It's like you know, fifty 357 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:44,359 Speaker 1: to a couple hundred trillions of a meter. Is what 358 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: how you you would define how big anatom is. Yeah, 359 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 1: that's like this the separation between the center of one 360 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,640 Speaker 1: atom and the center of another atom. Depending on the material, 361 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: and different things can sort of pack more tightly together 362 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:01,200 Speaker 1: than other things. Like hydrogen, you can squeeze it down 363 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: to like thirty trillions of an atom between protons. But 364 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:09,000 Speaker 1: if you're packing lead together, for example, it's almost two 365 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: d trillions of a meter between sort of the centers 366 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: of the nuclei. I say, it's it's like if you're 367 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:17,719 Speaker 1: trying to measure the size of a bunch of marbles. 368 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,440 Speaker 1: You would stick him in a container and see how 369 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: many you can sort of cramp together, and that kind 370 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:24,679 Speaker 1: of tells you the size of each marble. Yeah, the 371 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: distance between the centers of the marbles. There you pack 372 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,160 Speaker 1: them as closely as you can, and then you measure 373 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,399 Speaker 1: the distance between the centers of the marbles. Is that 374 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:33,119 Speaker 1: actually sort of because you know, when I think of 375 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 1: an atom, I think of like, um, you know, like 376 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:39,679 Speaker 1: the popular culture drawing of an atom, which is like, 377 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 1: you know, little balls in the center and then electrons 378 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: flying around in orbit. You know, you know, and I 379 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,760 Speaker 1: know that you know, they're actually like electron clouds. But 380 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: even the clouds have sort of a size, right, they're 381 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: drawn as little balloons that stick out of this center. 382 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 1: Is the size is the packing size that you're talking about, 383 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:01,640 Speaker 1: like how many you can crime in banana, the same 384 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: as the size of those like electron clouds. Yeah, it's 385 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: very closely connected. And for a reason, those electrons are 386 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: the reason that the atoms don't pack more closely together, 387 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: Like you bring two hydrogen atoms near each other. It's 388 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,800 Speaker 1: the electron clouds that determine how closely they get together 389 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,520 Speaker 1: because they form like a covalent bond and make an 390 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: H two or something like that. And so it's those 391 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:28,160 Speaker 1: electrons that determine the interactions between the atoms and determine 392 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: their spacing. And it's when those two things start overlapping, 393 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,000 Speaker 1: is when they can no longer really get closer together. So, yeah, 394 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,880 Speaker 1: the size of the electron cloud is very closely connected 395 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: to the size of the atom. It really is what 396 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: defines it. They're always interacting, right, no matter how far 397 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: apart there are, Like if I had a hydrogen atom 398 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 1: here and you had a hydrogen atom and Jupiter. Technically 399 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: they're sort of repelling each other, right or and or 400 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,440 Speaker 1: attracting each other or not. They definitely do feel each other. 401 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:57,440 Speaker 1: You're write the the extent of the electromagnetic force is infinite, 402 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,119 Speaker 1: So there are electrons in Alpha Centaur that are pulling 403 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:03,160 Speaker 1: on you or pushing on you, or depending on whatever 404 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:07,359 Speaker 1: they're doing, technically touching you. Right, you're being touched by 405 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:11,360 Speaker 1: an alpha centaur right now. I just got chills down 406 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,920 Speaker 1: my spine a little bit to the left. Please, yes, 407 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: thank you. Crash that is that I've had. Yeah, well 408 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: it's a tricky concept. You're right. If we're going to 409 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 1: define size by sort of how you were responding when 410 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,479 Speaker 1: you get poked, then you're right. You're being constantly poked 411 00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: by everything in the universe. Well, even the stuff like 412 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,480 Speaker 1: a build B zillion nine years away. Yeah, it is everything. 413 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 1: Everything in the universe is feeling you. Although you know 414 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,399 Speaker 1: there's a time delay there, so the stuff in Alpha 415 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,680 Speaker 1: Centauri is only feeling. Stuff is feeling where we were 416 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,439 Speaker 1: a long time ago as a separate issue. So my 417 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: size depends on time as well. Jeez. But you know, 418 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:53,439 Speaker 1: those those things are pretty negligible, and so you can 419 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,920 Speaker 1: think about like when these things really have an effect 420 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: if you probe if you shot an electron at um 421 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: hi'd gin atom, when would it deflect the electron? And 422 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: if you shot you know, a meter to the right, 423 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,920 Speaker 1: it wouldn't change the path of the electron really at all. 424 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,720 Speaker 1: It would, but just it would be very little, It 425 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: would be very little bit negligible. But then when you 426 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:14,159 Speaker 1: you know, hit it right on, then it's going to 427 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:16,879 Speaker 1: bounce right back. And and so you can use that 428 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: to sort of get a sense for what is the 429 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:23,639 Speaker 1: meaningful sort of charge radius of a particle. And you're right, 430 00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 1: it's there's no crisp edge there. So there's a small 431 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 1: complication there also because it turns out that the size 432 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: of something depends on not just what you poke it with, 433 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,360 Speaker 1: but how hard you poke it. Like, if you poke 434 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:40,439 Speaker 1: an atom very gently, it'll seem bigger because you'll notice 435 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: smaller deflections further away. If you poke it very hard, 436 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,639 Speaker 1: it will actually seem smaller because you'll overpower the electrons 437 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,880 Speaker 1: and the outside and only see the nucleus on the inside. 438 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:53,880 Speaker 1: There's no point at which it goes to zero though, 439 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: you're right, right, yeah, So it's it's kind of fuzzy 440 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,439 Speaker 1: and maybe kind of arbitrary, but you're saying, it's like 441 00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: when when you would actually fee you the force of 442 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: that electron, that's when maybe you would say, all right, 443 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: it's sort of impinging on it, which means it's sort 444 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 1: of bumping up against it. Mm hmm, And it's not 445 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,679 Speaker 1: totally arbitrary. Like when you squeeze atoms together, they settle 446 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,560 Speaker 1: in at a certain distance from each other, so that 447 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,840 Speaker 1: totally tells you what the equilibrium location is for for 448 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: the distance between atoms, and that I think is a 449 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,159 Speaker 1: reasonable way to define the size. But you know, you're right, 450 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: you have to think about, like what am my meaning 451 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: by size in this context? In this other context? This 452 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,960 Speaker 1: basic thing we think about like should be obvious to 453 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: talk about is it turns out to have a lot 454 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: of wrinkles to it, all right, So that's kind of 455 00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:36,719 Speaker 1: how you would define an atom is when it starts 456 00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,960 Speaker 1: to push back another atom, and how much when you 457 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:42,199 Speaker 1: crow them inside of a box, you know, what's the 458 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:45,040 Speaker 1: natural spacing that they have between them? And it's you're 459 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,159 Speaker 1: saying sort of related to those electron clouds, which is 460 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:50,719 Speaker 1: how kind of how far away the electron goes from 461 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:56,280 Speaker 1: the nuclei right, Okay, so that's a that's an atom um. 462 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,240 Speaker 1: But I guess it gets strict when you talk about 463 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,680 Speaker 1: individual particles. So let's go down one more level to 464 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: the proton inside of the nucleus. How big? How how 465 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:06,480 Speaker 1: big would you say a proton is? This is a 466 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:10,320 Speaker 1: wonderful question. And you know, if you're breaking open the atom, 467 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: if you're shooting electrons at the atom, it's going to 468 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: get repelled by the electrons on the outside of it. 469 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:17,600 Speaker 1: But if you give them enough energy, then they can 470 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: sort of penetrate through there, and then you can start 471 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: to probe the proton inside there, and you can ask, like, 472 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 1: how big is this thing? And so we do that exactly. 473 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: We shoot electrons at protons or hydrogen atoms or or 474 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,679 Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter if the electron is there anymore, 475 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,679 Speaker 1: because the probe we're shooting with has so much energy, 476 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: and we see where does it bounce back and where 477 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: does it sort of stop bouncing back, and that gives 478 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: us a sense for how big the proton is, and 479 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:44,880 Speaker 1: so we actually have a number for that. But it's 480 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,680 Speaker 1: tricky because the proton is also made out of things 481 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: inside of it, sort of like the atom itself. It is. 482 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: Protons are made of smaller bits that are slashing around 483 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 1: inside of it. Those are the corks. But remember that 484 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: we're trying to define the size of an object, the 485 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:03,359 Speaker 1: proton this case, not by where the stuff is inside it, 486 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: but where it pushes back. And the corks hang out 487 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: together and push back against the other protons. So if 488 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: we use our definition, it's the distance between the protons 489 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,479 Speaker 1: that's going to determine the size of the protons. And 490 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 1: that's connected, of course to how the corks are arranged, 491 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,639 Speaker 1: how they're happy to be inside the proton. The proton 492 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:24,919 Speaker 1: is sort of like a cork atom. I See if 493 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 1: they were comfortable being a mile apart, you know, like 494 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:29,520 Speaker 1: if you try to split it more than a mile 495 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: or squish the more of them out, they would prefer 496 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: to be a mile up apart from each other. Now, 497 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 1: you would say the size of those two electron at 498 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: courts is about a mile. So the size of the 499 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 1: proton that's that's made up of those corks, yeah, it 500 00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,560 Speaker 1: would be about a mile. But you know, we have 501 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:45,480 Speaker 1: nuclei and they have got protons and neutrons inside of them, 502 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:48,159 Speaker 1: and each one is like its own little particle. They 503 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,639 Speaker 1: get squeezed together, but they hang out. They keep their 504 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: own little particle nature, and so it's just like packing 505 00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 1: marbles together. You can ask about like the distance between 506 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,119 Speaker 1: the center of one proton and another, or a proton 507 00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 1: and a neutron. That's what we think of as the 508 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: size of the proton. How much can you pack in 509 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: the quarts that are inside of the proton? Yeah, and 510 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: that's a really crazy number. That's like one quadrillionth of 511 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: a meter. It's a really small number. Uh. And that's 512 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 1: smaller than a nanometer for sure. It's smaller than a 513 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: centimeter as well. It's smaller than a mile apparently as well. Um, 514 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: so that's pretty small. That's pretty small. Yeah, Like, how 515 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: how big is that in relation to like the size 516 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 1: of an atom. Well, an atom is you know, like 517 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: ten to a hundred ish um trillionth of a meter, 518 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,360 Speaker 1: So this is one quadrillionth of a meter, So it's 519 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: like one ten thousands or one hundred thousands the size 520 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,160 Speaker 1: of an atom. So it's very small compared to the atom. 521 00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: Bare to the electron radius, the proton is super tiny. Okay, 522 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 1: wait wait, so um, we have an atom and how 523 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,680 Speaker 1: about the just the nucleus of the atom. How close 524 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: together are those protons and neutrons in the nucleus packed together? 525 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 1: Those are very tightly packed together. And and again remember 526 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:05,160 Speaker 1: that's because that's sort of how the size of the 527 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: proton is determined. It's like how do those things cluster together? 528 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,159 Speaker 1: And so the size of like if you have the 529 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 1: nucleus of an atom with you know, a hundred protons 530 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: and neutrons in it, it's not that much bigger than 531 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 1: one protonomy. It's like packing above those marbles together. So 532 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:23,680 Speaker 1: it's going to be ordered magnitude quadrilliants of a meter. 533 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: Oh wow, so the new And that's why they say, 534 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,679 Speaker 1: like the anatom is mostly empty space because you know 535 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 1: what you would say is the size of it. Actually 536 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,320 Speaker 1: the nucleus is like this tiny little bit of it inside. Yeah. 537 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: And the way that they probe this is two different ways. 538 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,720 Speaker 1: One is they shoot an electron at proton. But sometimes 539 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,679 Speaker 1: also they just look at an atom. They just watch 540 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,640 Speaker 1: an atom sitting there. It's got a proton and an 541 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:52,200 Speaker 1: electron and the electron is whizzing all around. And sometimes 542 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:56,440 Speaker 1: this is super weird. Sometimes the electron goes inside the proton, 543 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: like in a quantum mechanical way, or like it actually 544 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 1: goes through what's the difference quantum mechanics is reality, dude, um, 545 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: Like if you were to you know, I mean, like 546 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: if you were to open the true Dinger's box and 547 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: you would you would suddenly find it inside of the news. Yeah, 548 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,440 Speaker 1: the electron in one of its states has non zero 549 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:21,600 Speaker 1: probability density to be inside the proton. And when this happens, 550 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,320 Speaker 1: it's sort of like partially cancels some of the charge 551 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,360 Speaker 1: pull of this thing because you have the electron now 552 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,800 Speaker 1: inside the positive atom and then it escapes. But depending 553 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 1: on the size of the proton it escaped, this happens 554 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: more or less often, so you can measure like how 555 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: often the electron is inside the proton, and that tells 556 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: you how big the proton is, because the bigger the 557 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: proton is, the more often this happens. So this is 558 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: another way we sort of get a sense for how 559 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: big is the proton. I see, using like probability, like 560 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: you throw a bunch of darts at it, only sometimes 561 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,280 Speaker 1: you hit hit the proton. Then that sort of tells 562 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,720 Speaker 1: you the size. Yeah, exactly, And that's actually the most 563 00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: sensitive test. Basically using the hydrogen's own electron, like pass 564 00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: it through the proton and give you a sense for 565 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: how big it is. It's crazy. Well, all right, so 566 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: a proton is about you're seeing one ten thousands of 567 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: the size of a typical atom. That's pretty small, because 568 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: a pretty small. So alright, so let's get there. Let's 569 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,440 Speaker 1: get down now to the last level, which is how 570 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: big is an electron? And I imagine that's going to 571 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,160 Speaker 1: be even smaller, but we'll get into that, but first 572 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:45,239 Speaker 1: let's take a quick break, all right, Daniel. So now 573 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,240 Speaker 1: we're down to one of the fundamental particles, the electron, 574 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,600 Speaker 1: and we're asking the question how big is it? Or 575 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: how small isn't it? Or how big isn't it? Amount 576 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: of negatives here, um and so, And I guess what 577 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:03,760 Speaker 1: we're talking going to talk about. It sort of applies 578 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: to quarts as well, right, because we're now talking about 579 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,040 Speaker 1: single particles, not like clusters of particles. Yeah, and remember 580 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:13,560 Speaker 1: that our theory is very hierarchical. We start with matter, 581 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: and then we go to molecules, from molecules to atoms, 582 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 1: from atoms to protons and electrons, and then to quarks 583 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: and electrons, and we're sort of have shells inside shells 584 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: inside shells, and so this is sort of our current 585 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: level of knowledge, and we can ask like, are these 586 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: particles that we see, um, are they the smallest possible thing? 587 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:32,800 Speaker 1: Or is it possible there's something else inside them? So 588 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: you're right there, quarks and electrons are sort of as 589 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,400 Speaker 1: far as we've gone, and so in some sense, asking 590 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:41,360 Speaker 1: how big are they is asking are they the end? 591 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:45,280 Speaker 1: Are they the tiniest, smallest possible thing? Or they possibly 592 00:30:45,360 --> 00:30:48,239 Speaker 1: made of something smaller? Oh? I see, because if you 593 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:52,360 Speaker 1: can split them, that means there's something smaller inside. I 594 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: guess that's pretty obvious. And that's for you. That sounds 595 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: deep and it is deep, but it's also kind of obvious, 596 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 1: like if you can break it into smaller pieces, then 597 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,239 Speaker 1: it's there were made of something else. As far as 598 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: we know, quarks and electrons are not yet made of 599 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,200 Speaker 1: something smaller. But that doesn't tell you necessarily how big 600 00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: they are. Right, they could be the smallest possible thing 601 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: and still have a finite size. Right they could be um, 602 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: the legos of the universe. Lego. Yeah, it could be 603 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 1: the smallest lego you can have, but um, that can 604 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: be smaller, smaller, big, that could be smaller big, And 605 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: that's fascinating when you learn a number about the universe. Like, 606 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: let's say we somehow proved that quirks and electrons are 607 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 1: not made of anything smaller. They have the smallest lego blocks, 608 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:34,600 Speaker 1: and we measured their size, Then we'd we'd know something 609 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: really deep and basic about the universe, like it's made 610 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 1: of legos this size, and you have to wonder, like, well, 611 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,239 Speaker 1: why that size and not something else? What does that 612 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 1: tell you about the universe to know that fundamental fact? Yeah? 613 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:48,520 Speaker 1: Did you know there are legos that are smaller than 614 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,240 Speaker 1: the single unit lego? What? Like you you would think 615 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:55,480 Speaker 1: the smallest lego is just like one square with one 616 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:58,320 Speaker 1: circle on it, right by saying people have smashed the 617 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:02,160 Speaker 1: legos together and make some legos covered the constituent pieces 618 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: and legos. No, yeah, they make uh this is kind 619 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: of weird but uh probably not consequential. But um, they 620 00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:12,640 Speaker 1: make smaller pieces. It makes pieces that fit inside of 621 00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: the whole that some of the single circle lego pieces 622 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,400 Speaker 1: have inside. Oh my god, you have just violated the 623 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 1: standard model of legos. Noble price. Please you've got the 624 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:28,000 Speaker 1: prize from that one. Anyways, Um, so, yeah, so let's 625 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,440 Speaker 1: talk about how big an electron Isn't let's use that 626 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: as our single particle example. And does it even make 627 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,479 Speaker 1: sense to talk about the size of a single particle, Daniel, 628 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:39,640 Speaker 1: It's hard to talk about the size of a single 629 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: particle if you haven't measured the stuff inside of it. 630 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,480 Speaker 1: Because we've talked about the size of atoms and protons 631 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 1: based on like how happy this stuff inside of it 632 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,400 Speaker 1: is to be next near each other, like how closely 633 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,560 Speaker 1: does it pack? So for a fundamental particle you have 634 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:57,160 Speaker 1: to go back to like the poking it and be like, well, 635 00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,960 Speaker 1: if I poked an electron with a stick, where were 636 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:04,160 Speaker 1: pushed back? But that's sort of unsatisfying to me. Couldn't 637 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,040 Speaker 1: can't I just you know, pack a bunch of electrons 638 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,240 Speaker 1: in a in a glass jar and see, wouldn't that 639 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: tell me sort of the size of it, Like how 640 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,719 Speaker 1: comfortable an electron is to another electron or to a proton. 641 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,160 Speaker 1: Wouldn't that sort of tell you this sort of the size, 642 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:20,360 Speaker 1: just like we did with the marbles and the atoms. Yeah, 643 00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:22,440 Speaker 1: that sounds like a really fun experiment. I want to 644 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,600 Speaker 1: take like a gas of pure electrons and squeeze it 645 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: down together and see what happens. The problem is that 646 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:30,200 Speaker 1: there's not like a clear answer, like the heart do 647 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,800 Speaker 1: you squeeze the closer they get together, it's not like 648 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: an equilibrium like with protons or with atoms, because these 649 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,600 Speaker 1: are all just negatively charged particles. There's no chill state 650 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: where they're like, hey, you're there, I'm here. All is good, 651 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,360 Speaker 1: and so instead you want to like take them and 652 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 1: like poke them, like, well, if you poke them with 653 00:33:48,160 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: an electron, then they bounce back for sure, But what 654 00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 1: if you poke them with neutrinos then they don't bounce 655 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: back at all, Or what if you poke them with 656 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,800 Speaker 1: dark matter? Then they don't bounce back, And so you're 657 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,959 Speaker 1: back to this like fuzziness of like you know, if 658 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,160 Speaker 1: it depends on how it's pushing back, then it depends 659 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,720 Speaker 1: on what you're poking it with. And then size isn't 660 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: something that's like inherent to the object. It's about the interaction, 661 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: which means it depends also on the thing you're interacting 662 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:15,680 Speaker 1: it with, which is so frustrating. Oh, I see what 663 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:17,680 Speaker 1: you're saying. Like if I had a cloud of electrons, 664 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: you could maybe talk about where the cloud is, and 665 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:23,879 Speaker 1: where the cloud isn't, where the electors are and where 666 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 1: there aren't. But with one single electron, it's hard to 667 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,080 Speaker 1: say where it ends. It's hard to say where it ends, 668 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,080 Speaker 1: like is there a left side to the electron and 669 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,839 Speaker 1: the right side to the electron? Are those things even 670 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,960 Speaker 1: the same thing? Because it depends on what you you're 671 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:38,960 Speaker 1: trying to touch it with, right, Like, if you're trying 672 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,800 Speaker 1: to touch it with another electron, it would maybe repel 673 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: at a certain distance, But if you try to poke 674 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,600 Speaker 1: it with a proton, then it would maybe attract at 675 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:50,800 Speaker 1: a different distance. Yeah, well not so much electron versus proton, 676 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,400 Speaker 1: because they both feel the electromagnetism. But what if you 677 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,000 Speaker 1: used a different force, if you use like the weak 678 00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:58,799 Speaker 1: nuclear force, or if you used you know, gravity, or 679 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,239 Speaker 1: if you used electromagnetism, is them than the size that 680 00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: you would get from electron is different. And we're turning 681 00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:10,400 Speaker 1: to a neutrino. An electron has those eyes. It doesn't like, 682 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 1: I don't care, Like the neutrino doesn't care. A neutrino 683 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:15,799 Speaker 1: would pass through a cloud of electrons and have a 684 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: much lower chance of interacting than another electron would, like 685 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:22,680 Speaker 1: it wouldn't even know it's there, yeah, or dark matter, right, 686 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:25,279 Speaker 1: pokeing a pile of electrons with a stick of dark matter, 687 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 1: you're gonna get almost no interactions, or maybe no interactions. 688 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,160 Speaker 1: We don't even know about dark matter. And this is 689 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:33,840 Speaker 1: the problem. It makes sense to define size in terms 690 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,120 Speaker 1: of interactions, like where is something pushed back, But it 691 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:39,440 Speaker 1: also is troublesome because then it depends on what you're 692 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:41,880 Speaker 1: pushing on it with. So that's kind of a problem 693 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 1: in defining the size of an electron because it depends 694 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: on what you poke it with. So then we try 695 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:48,279 Speaker 1: something else. We say, well, let's think about it like 696 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:52,160 Speaker 1: quantum mechanically, Like we've talked about where the electron is, 697 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:55,480 Speaker 1: and it's defined by like it's quantum mechanical wave function, 698 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,640 Speaker 1: and you know you were talking about like those balloon 699 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:00,520 Speaker 1: shapes where the electron is. You know, it's the sort 700 00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:02,920 Speaker 1: of the most you can localize an electron, Like what's 701 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: the size of that quantum packet? You want to think 702 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,400 Speaker 1: about it like as a tiny quantum object. That's like 703 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:10,600 Speaker 1: another way to try to grapple with it because their 704 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:12,759 Speaker 1: probability curves right, Like you know where the cloud is 705 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: fuzzy tells you that the probability that the electron is 706 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:18,919 Speaker 1: there is small, but where the cloud is kind of thick, 707 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: it tells you that there's a high probability that the 708 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:23,680 Speaker 1: electron is there. But that doesn't really give you any 709 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 1: insight because that size can be almost anything. It depends 710 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 1: on the uncertainty principle. If you know almost nothing about 711 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:34,719 Speaker 1: the velocity of the momentum of the electron, then you 712 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:36,919 Speaker 1: can know exactly where it is, which means it has 713 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:41,759 Speaker 1: like zero that quantum mechanical packets zero with And on 714 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,279 Speaker 1: the flip side, if you know everything about its velocity, 715 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:49,440 Speaker 1: then it's packet is infinitely wide, like exists everywhere in 716 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:53,839 Speaker 1: the universe simultaneously have like a universe sized electron. So 717 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:57,160 Speaker 1: that's intellectually not that satisfying either. But what if you 718 00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,839 Speaker 1: assume an electron is just standing still, like when you're 719 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,000 Speaker 1: to measure your kid how all they are and it's 720 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,000 Speaker 1: impossible because they keep moving. But what if you can 721 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,280 Speaker 1: get it to stand still? Oh wouldn't what would that happen? 722 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 1: Would you be able to then get a pretty accurate size. 723 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:13,760 Speaker 1: If you're measuring the velocity of the particle, you're getting 724 00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:16,239 Speaker 1: it to stand still has no velocity, and you say 725 00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:19,720 Speaker 1: it has zero velocity, then it has infinite size because 726 00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:22,560 Speaker 1: you can't know the product. Remember the product of the 727 00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:26,040 Speaker 1: position and momentum uncertainty has to equal a certain number. 728 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 1: And so if you're narrowing down the speed of the 729 00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,880 Speaker 1: electron really really well, that means you don't know anything 730 00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:34,960 Speaker 1: about where it is. It's an infinite plane. Wave size 731 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:40,200 Speaker 1: is only distance, whereas you know in particle physics, distance 732 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:43,000 Speaker 1: is kind of intertwined with time as well in velocity. 733 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:44,600 Speaker 1: But then on the flip side, if you say I 734 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,640 Speaker 1: don't care at all about how fast it is, I 735 00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: just want to know where it is, then you can 736 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,399 Speaker 1: localize it as much as you want. You can make 737 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,360 Speaker 1: it infinitely narrow. And so that also doesn't give you 738 00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:56,640 Speaker 1: any sense of like the size of the electron. So 739 00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:01,959 Speaker 1: strike to we can can use poking or are quantum mathematics. 740 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:05,200 Speaker 1: So does that mean that the electron has no size, 741 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,440 Speaker 1: that it's impossible to define the size of an electron. 742 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:10,160 Speaker 1: It kind of does currently. I mean in our theory, 743 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,960 Speaker 1: the way we actually use it is we assume the 744 00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: electron has no size at all, It has zero volume. 745 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:19,520 Speaker 1: That it's just like a point in space. The left 746 00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:21,719 Speaker 1: is the right, the top is the bottom, the back 747 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:24,839 Speaker 1: is the front. There's no extent to it at all. 748 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:27,719 Speaker 1: It's sort of mathematically and and because of all the 749 00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:30,759 Speaker 1: things we just talked about, I guess that that's true. Yeah, 750 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: you can't measure the size of an electron. It doesn't 751 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 1: make any sense to think about it. Yeah, in our theories, 752 00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:38,680 Speaker 1: we just put zero because we assume that there's nothing there. 753 00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,200 Speaker 1: We have no way to really see the size of 754 00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,879 Speaker 1: the electron. But you know, we do continue to try. 755 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:48,359 Speaker 1: We do smash particles at the electron, hoping that we'll 756 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,960 Speaker 1: see a break open, hoping that we'll see other little 757 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,520 Speaker 1: particles come out of it. But I guess getting back 758 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,799 Speaker 1: to the size of the electron itself, um, I mean, 759 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:58,920 Speaker 1: it's not like it has no size because it's it's 760 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,600 Speaker 1: not a mile wide, Like, would you even say that 761 00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:05,040 Speaker 1: the electron is all electrons are a mile mile wide? 762 00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:06,600 Speaker 1: I don't know what to say for the size of 763 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:08,920 Speaker 1: the electron, you know, And that's why I predicted, I 764 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:15,000 Speaker 1: think correctly, that you'd be unsatisfied with Oh my god, 765 00:39:15,160 --> 00:39:18,799 Speaker 1: it's not really you can't tell the future, can Yeah, well, 766 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:20,959 Speaker 1: I can in this case, like I think the way 767 00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:23,480 Speaker 1: I think about it currently is as a point, But 768 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,120 Speaker 1: I also know that that makes no sense because like, 769 00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:29,960 Speaker 1: how do you have something that has mass but has 770 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 1: no volume because then has infinite density, which is nonsense, 771 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,560 Speaker 1: right is it? Electrons have mass, they have mass, and 772 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:39,400 Speaker 1: they have charge, Like where does that charge go? Where 773 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:42,240 Speaker 1: is it in the electron if it has no volume. 774 00:39:42,280 --> 00:39:45,239 Speaker 1: We're just used to thinking about stuff as having sizes 775 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,359 Speaker 1: having volume, So to imagine that the basic building box 776 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:52,320 Speaker 1: of the universe themselves are of zero volume is really weird. 777 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:55,320 Speaker 1: But I guess maybe you know that that's the theory 778 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,839 Speaker 1: of it. But practically speaking, I mean, we can talk 779 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,080 Speaker 1: about what's what's practical to you and me is like 780 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,319 Speaker 1: electromagnetic forces, right, you know, And it doesn't make sense 781 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:06,600 Speaker 1: in terms of neutrinos are dark matter, but kind of 782 00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:10,400 Speaker 1: what's practical electromagnetic forces? And so couldn't we sort of 783 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:13,000 Speaker 1: maybe give a practical size to the electron because of that, 784 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 1: like like what's the closest to electrons in one atom? 785 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:20,480 Speaker 1: How close can they get to electrons in another atom? 786 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:24,000 Speaker 1: Wouldn't that give you a general size? Yeah, and we've 787 00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:26,800 Speaker 1: done that we like pounded electrons near each other and 788 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:30,240 Speaker 1: try to get them as close together as possible, And 789 00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:32,840 Speaker 1: so far we haven't found a limit, Like, there's no 790 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,960 Speaker 1: point at which the electrons will not get closer to 791 00:40:36,000 --> 00:40:39,279 Speaker 1: each other. And so far we've gotten down about ten 792 00:40:39,360 --> 00:40:42,920 Speaker 1: to the minus twenty meters. And you do that by 793 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:46,960 Speaker 1: shooting really high energy electrons at other electrons and try 794 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,239 Speaker 1: to get them really close together. So that's as far 795 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,400 Speaker 1: as we could tell. We can't tell the difference between 796 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: the electrons have no volume, and they have some volume 797 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: that's smaller than ten to the minus twenty. We can't 798 00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,279 Speaker 1: tell the difference. So far. They look like their point like, 799 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: but we have some sort of limited resolution there in 800 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,840 Speaker 1: our ability to probe. So what happens if I the 801 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:08,520 Speaker 1: whole universe was just like a proton and an electron, 802 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:11,560 Speaker 1: I guess the electron would orbit the proton. That's what 803 00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:15,640 Speaker 1: hydrogen is. Yeah, The size the hydrogen comes from their interactions. Right, 804 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:17,520 Speaker 1: Most of the volume of all the stuff in the 805 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,840 Speaker 1: universe comes from the interactions, not from any actual volume 806 00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:22,799 Speaker 1: of the particles that make them up. All right, Well, 807 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:29,440 Speaker 1: you're right, this is very unsatisfying. Anim Well, that's satisfying 808 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,239 Speaker 1: to me that at least I was right about that. 809 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:33,440 Speaker 1: But it's a it's a really fun puzzle because I 810 00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,120 Speaker 1: think it's interesting to try to grapple with the quantum 811 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 1: realm and try to understand what are the limits of 812 00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:42,520 Speaker 1: our ability to map these concepts size and mass and 813 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:45,520 Speaker 1: charge and velocity down to these tiny particles that, in 814 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:49,399 Speaker 1: the end are the reality, are the truth about our universe. Yeah, 815 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:51,680 Speaker 1: And I think it's interesting how, you know, you sort 816 00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,120 Speaker 1: of put it that it's all about the interactions, you know, 817 00:41:54,280 --> 00:41:57,640 Speaker 1: And it's hard to think about an electron not having 818 00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,520 Speaker 1: like a surface or you know, an st where it's 819 00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,680 Speaker 1: no longer an electron, And it all sort of depends 820 00:42:03,719 --> 00:42:06,319 Speaker 1: on what you're trying to look at it with, you know, 821 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:08,040 Speaker 1: Like if you're trying to look at it with neutrinos, 822 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,279 Speaker 1: then you wouldn't see anything at all. Yeah, But if 823 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:13,839 Speaker 1: you looked at it with the electrons, it would feel 824 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:16,000 Speaker 1: like a certain size maybe. Yeah. And this is connected 825 00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:17,759 Speaker 1: to some of the other puzzles we talked about, like 826 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,080 Speaker 1: does the electron actually spin? We know that it's either 827 00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,319 Speaker 1: a point, in which case it doesn't make sense for 828 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,759 Speaker 1: it to spin like a point literally cannot spin, or 829 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,080 Speaker 1: that it's super tiny. But if it's super tiny and 830 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,359 Speaker 1: it has a surface, then it's spinning so fast that 831 00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:35,000 Speaker 1: that surface is moving faster than the speed of light. 832 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,239 Speaker 1: So at some point, like it doesn't even make sense 833 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,000 Speaker 1: for it to have a non zero size. At some point, 834 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,399 Speaker 1: nothing makes sense, Daniel, life is meaningless, And that's usually 835 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:50,640 Speaker 1: about forty five minutes into every episode. The incredible thing 836 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:52,759 Speaker 1: is that we can understand it at all, That we 837 00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:55,680 Speaker 1: can take these ideas from our everyday experience of like 838 00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: eating bananas and throwing balls around, and then it can 839 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:02,080 Speaker 1: give us any side into the microscopic. You know that, 840 00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,880 Speaker 1: because the microscopic is so weird, so alien, it's incredible 841 00:43:05,920 --> 00:43:07,759 Speaker 1: it works at all that I even have a job. 842 00:43:08,160 --> 00:43:10,120 Speaker 1: But yeah, but that's the thing it was. We don't 843 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:13,000 Speaker 1: understand it, but yet at the same time we're able to, 844 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,239 Speaker 1: you know, predict it and describe it with math. But 845 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:19,719 Speaker 1: that doesn't mean we understand it, right, That's what understanding is. 846 00:43:19,920 --> 00:43:21,760 Speaker 1: As far as I know, I don't know any deeper 847 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:23,880 Speaker 1: level of understanding. When you pass it off to the 848 00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:26,200 Speaker 1: philosophers and you can ask them, like, you know, what 849 00:43:26,239 --> 00:43:29,480 Speaker 1: does it mean? Man? But in the end. What we're 850 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:31,920 Speaker 1: trying to do is physicists is just sort of describe 851 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,680 Speaker 1: accurately the world we see around us, build a model 852 00:43:34,719 --> 00:43:37,600 Speaker 1: in our heads that makes sense, describe all this unknown 853 00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:40,560 Speaker 1: in terms of the known. That's that's all the understanding 854 00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:42,279 Speaker 1: we can hope for. Well, I guess what I mean 855 00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:44,600 Speaker 1: is like at some point we thought the proton was 856 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,480 Speaker 1: a proton, and we had to math to describe it, 857 00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: and we thought we understood it. But then then it 858 00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:51,640 Speaker 1: turned out we that we there was more to the 859 00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:55,120 Speaker 1: proton than we thought, and we didn't actually understand the proton. 860 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:58,040 Speaker 1: It was made out of quirks, for example. So I 861 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:00,280 Speaker 1: feel like, you know, you have a mathematical di ccription 862 00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:03,360 Speaker 1: of stuff, but you don't know if you're really understanding 863 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:05,920 Speaker 1: it to the fundamental level. And all of these mathematical 864 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:08,600 Speaker 1: descriptions they work up to a point. Like your idea 865 00:44:08,800 --> 00:44:11,319 Speaker 1: thinking about a proton as a fundamental particle as a 866 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,879 Speaker 1: point particle that mostly works. It works unless you get 867 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:17,560 Speaker 1: up to really high energies, energies where you can see 868 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,200 Speaker 1: inside the proton, because the energies are greater than the 869 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,440 Speaker 1: bonds that are holding the proton together. And so as 870 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:27,040 Speaker 1: we keep pushing to higher and higher energies. We're looking 871 00:44:27,160 --> 00:44:30,600 Speaker 1: deeper and deeper into the real truth the smallest scales 872 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:33,239 Speaker 1: of the universe. And that's what limits how small we 873 00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:35,799 Speaker 1: can see is the energy with which we probe it. 874 00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:38,959 Speaker 1: And that's why, like building a bigger super collider would 875 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,960 Speaker 1: let us maybe see whether the electron had bits inside 876 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:46,920 Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, keep funding physics is hey, I'm on message. 877 00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:51,800 Speaker 1: If nothing else, keep sending those checks. Please, if you 878 00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:55,160 Speaker 1: have to pick between donating to bananas or fundamental physics, 879 00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:58,640 Speaker 1: you know where I stand on that. Bananas, right, because 880 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,960 Speaker 1: bananas are made out of fundamental partners. All right, Well, 881 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,160 Speaker 1: we hope you enjoyed that, And maybe the next time 882 00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:06,879 Speaker 1: you take a bite out of a banana or your 883 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:10,479 Speaker 1: fruit of choice, maybe think about what it actually means 884 00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:12,320 Speaker 1: to take a bite. I feel like we've thrown everything 885 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:14,440 Speaker 1: into question now, Daniel, Like, what does it even mean 886 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:17,000 Speaker 1: to take a bite into When my teeth end and 887 00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:19,000 Speaker 1: when does the banana begin? I don't know, but every 888 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:22,640 Speaker 1: banana you've ever eaten is made out of zero volume particles. 889 00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:25,160 Speaker 1: Chew on that and think about it until next week. 890 00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:34,920 Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, See you next time. Before you 891 00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:37,920 Speaker 1: still have a question after listening to all these explanations, 892 00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:40,920 Speaker 1: please drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you. 893 00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:43,759 Speaker 1: You can find us at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at 894 00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:47,160 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge That's one Word, or email us at 895 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:51,160 Speaker 1: Feedback at Daniel and Jorge dot com. Thanks for listening, 896 00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:53,920 Speaker 1: and remember that Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe is 897 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,480 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcast from 898 00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:01,200 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 899 00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:12,719 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Yeah m