4 ms·
They are basically quarks. If the gap between any two quarks gets too big, a third quark will pop into existence between them*. *I may have grossly misundersto
by cyclotron3k 3y ago
They are basically quarks. If the gap between any two quarks gets too big, a third quark will pop into existence between them*.
*I may have grossly misunderstood my physics lecturer. It was a long time ago.
- xnzakg 3y agoSounds like the Game of Life
- Filligree 3y agoThe binding energy between quarks is so huge (more than 99% of the total energy of a proton) that, if you attempt to pull them apart, the energy you have to apply in the process is enough to create additional quarks. So it’s not that they just pop into existence. You, as the person pulling them apart, are the cause of the extra quarks being created.
- Timon3 3y agoVery similar to how you, as the person swatting the flies, generate enough energy for another to spontaneously emerge.
- wholinator2 3y agoHmmm but the fly must have some kind of incredible complexity compared to a pair of subatomic particles. I mean, it's made of an uncountable number of such particles, bound together in an extremely complex singular arrangement. And as i recall, the energy to separate 2 quarks (produce a quark anti-quark pair) is somewhere around the hundreds of MeV. I wonder how hard you'd have to slap a table to spontaneously generate a fruit fly. Or the average number of attempts required.
- frutiger 3y agoActually a pair of quarks are created, not only a third one. This is required to keep the overall set colorless.