4 ms·
Why though? What's wrong with being whimsical and capturing people's imagination?
by d_theorist 6y ago
Why though? What's wrong with being whimsical and capturing people's imagination?
- reedf1 6y agoWell because you can encode intuition in names. e.g. Quarks come in pairs, and each pair has one quark with +2/3e charge and one with -1/3e. The names can give you intuition for their charge, i.e. Up quark is +2/3e Down quark is -1/3e. And if you give names that give you intuition for the charge it is considerably easier to remember (as a former undergrad physicist trust me you need assistance here). The name name "top" allows you to immediately think "up" and +2/3e and "bottom" allows you to immediately think "down" and -1/3e.
- stan_rogers 6y agoAnd the pair, in this case, is truth and beauty. Are you saying that strange and charm give you an intuitive feel for the charge number?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- goldenkey 6y agoWhat you are describing is association, not intuition. It is not the responsibility of scientific laborers to name and structure things in order to create convenient associations for cramming physics undergrads. Intuition involves a deep understanding of the objects and processes, a lot more harrowing than memorizing charges..
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- shawnz 6y agoWhat is intuitive about the up quark and down quark charges? The fact that "up" is associated with positivity is totally arbitrary, and even the fact that positive charges are called positive is totally arbitrary.
- Kaibeezy 6y agoMaybe because it misleads people into an inaccurate anthropomorphic impression of what these cute little nippers are up to, undermining this-is-serious science. See also: Sea Monkeys.