Can You Believe How Small Things Are?

[faith]

I have always been fascinated by quantum mechanics, but one thing that truly stands out is the Planck length - which is the shortest distance possible without breaking any physical laws. It is something that if you try to go even smaller, things just don't make sense. It's similar to the speed of light. If you travel at the speed of light, time doesn't exist for you. So on the smallest of scales, things don't exist for you either, and going any smaller would be impossible. 

So how small is the smallest thing? Well here it is...

Picture a hydrogen atom, and if you can't here is an analogy: it is estimated that the atoms in a drop of water (which are made of Hydrogen and Oxygen) are roughly the same amount as the drops of water in all the oceans. Pretty big if you ask me. Here is another way to look at it, this is how many hydrogen atoms are in 1 cubic centimetre of water: 

670, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 SEXTILLION ATOMS

It goes billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, and then sextillion!!!

However, the hydrogen atom, even though it is the smallest of all the atoms containing only 1 proton, is still HUGE compared to the Planck length!

If you blow up the hydrogen atom to the size of the observable universe, which is some 8, 800, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 OCTILLION meters across, only then the Planck length will be visible at about 2000 meters, which is about the height of Mount Rushmore. 

It's really insane how small things can get!

[Evilwave Heddy]

Interesting! I've never heard of the Planck length until now.  I love learning about the small stuff like protons, neutrons etc. It just fascinates me. I feel like the Planck length will blow my mind if I did a bit of research on it.  I don't think I'm ready yet. Lmao

[faith]

I am glad you enjoy this kind of thing, and here is something that might be of interest to you as well. When we are not looking at things, the world doesn't exist in the same way. This is because when we look at things, the particles become particles! When we are not looking at them, they act as waves. This means that if you are in your room right now and are looking around, you are making your room into particles, and as soon as you step outside, it doesn't exist anymore as you know it. It is now completely composed of waves. The act of looking at things, or in other words, the act of being conscious, makes the reality that you know. Without our consciousness, reality exists in a different state. 

I think it's really trippy

 

 

[Evilwave Heddy]

Ah yeah, I kind of picked up on that from a few of Leos videos about labeling and all.  From the sound of it though you have some other idea with particles etc.  I'm not sure we are on the same page here but what I speak of is kind of similar to what you speak of.  We just have different ideas of what is happening, right?

[Loreena]

It is interesting to see they act as both waves and particles.

670, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 SEXTILLION ATOMS

you mean 670, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 REPTILLION ATOMS......hahaha

[faith]

7 hours ago, Evilwave Heddy said:

Ah yeah, I kind of picked up on that from a few of Leos videos about labeling and all.  From the sound of it though you have some other idea with particles etc.  I'm not sure we are on the same page here but what I speak of is kind of similar to what you speak of.  We just have different ideas of what is happening, right?

I am not too familiar with those videos, but from what I can gather, I guess Leo is saying that everyone has a subjective experience that is just as real as yours, mine, his, her's, etc.... Which is interesting because to be really self-aware, you will have to recognize that reality exists even for schizophrenics and lunatics, and it may not be my reality, but it is just as authentic as my reality. This is more of the domain of psychology, and I am talking about electrons which are more of the domain of physics. However, it's not impossible to imagine that the two are somehow linked. I think, if we will discover more and more stuff, someday we may discover the nature of consciousness, and I bet it will have, at least, something to do with quantum physics.

 

7 hours ago, Loreena said:

It is interesting to see they act as both waves and particles.

670, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 SEXTILLION ATOMS

you mean 670, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 REPTILLION ATOMS......hahaha

Did you know that there is a number that if you write it out, you will have to use up the whole observable universe, and it still won't be enough. This means that if you start writing 1, 00000000000000000000....etc.......you will use up all of the space of the WHOLE universe, and you will still have more zeroes to add. It's called a googolplex. A really interesting number  

Edited April 11, 2017 by ashashlov

[jse]

There is a whole bunch of Planck units, including Planck time.

 

      

[Nahm]

@ashashlov What do you make of the uncertainty principle?

[faith]

7 hours ago, Nahm said:

@ashashlov What do you make of the uncertainty principle?

I think it's incredible. Mathematically though, it makes sense. The more you decrease position, the more the photons increase speed, and vice versa. It's just an equation, and like any equation, it has to always follow rules. 

However, that still doesn't explain why things are so precise and predictable on macro scales, and so weird on the very tiniest? Why is the universe this way? Why are things the way they are? Why do I ask why? It's a pain in the arse is what it is

[Nahm]

3 hours ago, ashashlov said:

I think it's incredible. Mathematically though, it makes sense. The more you decrease position, the more the photons increase speed, and vice versa. It's just an equation, and like any equation, it has to always follow rules. 

However, that still doesn't explain why things are so precise and predictable on macro scales, and so weird on the very tiniest? Why is the universe this way? Why are things the way they are? Why do I ask why? It's a pain in the arse is what it is

You may want to look further into it. It answers your proceeding questions.

[pluto]

Here's something fun

http://htwins.net/scale2/

[electroBeam]

its funny how small atoms, particles, science, art, our insecurities, and ourselves are compared to the infinite expansion of god. Our universe as we understand it is infinitely small compared to all of the universes, rules, galaxies, worlds out there. 

And that's on top of the fact that atoms are tiny compared to objects in this universe.

[faith]

3 hours ago, pluto said:

Here's something fun

http://htwins.net/scale2/

Yea I love this thing. Whoever made it is a genius. 

[Evilwave Heddy]

8 hours ago, pluto said:

Here's something fun

http://htwins.net/scale2/

Awesome..this blows my mind the longer a mess with it.

Edited April 22, 2017 by Evilwave Heddy

[pluto]

When i play with it for a while it reminds me of my first DMT experience at a large dose, it sort of felt like that. I zoomed in and out so far at the speed of light that i ended up back at the beginning again as the universe was a never ending circle with a twist which created a sort of infinity sign only showing that the deeper within you go the closer to the to everything you become.