4 ms·

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_drop_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_drop_experiment

• GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
  That's discretization of electric charge, which is not necessarily the same thing as "an electron".
  • mablap 10y ago
    Electrons are defined in part by having unit (negative) electric charge. What other conclusion would you make from that experiment?
    • GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
      Why does it mean electrons "exist" in any sense instead of being a model that could explain the data? And if such objects did exist, why could they not follow classical mechanics?
      • mablap 10y ago
        Meh, I could also ask you to provide evidence that you're not a p-zombie... There's an undivisible thing (particle) that has undivisible charge (electron) which exhibits properties and behaviour that could not be explained clasically. How do you explain classically (i.e. Newton's laws and no limits on observables uncertainty) electron diffraction and discretized spin?
        • GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
          > How do you explain classically (i.e. Newton's laws and no limits on observables uncertainty) electron diffraction and discretized spin Now you're changing the question :) My original point in this was that hacker news poster "powertower" asked for evidence about an electron's properties outside of QM, and I objected to this question because once you leave QM you're in a different kind of universe.