/sci/ - Science & Math » Thread #7610963

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Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 15:35:06 No.7610963 View Reply Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7610982 >>7611007 >>7611047

I wasn't sure whether to put this in the stupid questions general, but:

why are there only 118 (so far as we know) atoms in the universe? There can only be 118 protons together because of... some universal property? Why is that? I can't seem to find an answer.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 15:45:10 No.7610982 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7610995 >>7611047

>>7610963
Protons repel each other, this is countered by the strong force, however the strong force only works on small distances, comparable to the size of a proton, meaning that two protons on the opposite sides of an atom aren't held together directly, only through the series of other protons and neutrons near them, however both of them are repelled by the coulomb force. This means that a large enough atom becomes unstable.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 15:50:33 No.7610995 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7611001 >>7611015

>>7610982
Hey thanks for the reply! That makes sense to me.

So the fundamental universal factor in the number is precisely how strong the strong force is? What would a universe with a different-strength strong force look like?

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 15:54:10 No.7611001 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7611006

>>7610995
>What would a universe with a different-strength strong force look like?
Stronger.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 15:55:38 No.7611006 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7611001
so like the Hulk? Bigger and green?

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 15:56:05 No.7611007 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7611023

>>7610963
>why are there only 118 (so far as we know) atoms in the universe?
You probably mean the right thing, but the word is 'elements' here. All atoms with the same number of protons are of the same element.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 15:59:38 No.7611015 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7610995
With a (significantly) weaker strong force there would be nothing but hydrogen, meaning no stars cause no fusion, and no life, obviously. With a stronger? Idk, bigger atoms? Stars would work differently, but I think they'd exist. I'm in my first year studying physics, and we've mostly learned maths and a bit of mechanics so far, so these are only guesses.

>only 118 atoms in the universe
Top kek, that would be a pretty boring universe.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 16:02:07 No.7611023 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7611029

>>7611007
right, that's what I meant.

Anyways, is it conceivable that we're parallel universe #118 then, basically?

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 16:06:33 No.7611029 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7611107

>>7611023
Those 118 elements are a consequence of some constants, so if I had to index universes, I wouldn't use the number of atoms, but the constants.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 16:12:23 No.7611047 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7611107

>>7610963
Actually there isn't a 118 barrier. Elements with more and more protons can hypothetically exist, but they would last shorter and shorter before decaying to atoms with less protons due to what >>7610982 said (a fun fact though: some hypothetical elements with larger number of protons that are available to us could form "islands of stability" - these atoms would actually last longer than would be expected of atoms of such massive size, though I don't know exact physics behind this).

You can generally ignore islands of stability though, in most cases the weakening of strong force is enough.

Also maybe it has something to do with electrons needing more energy to escape the electromagnetism of nucleus, therefore being faster, but speed cannot be more than c, but I don't really know whether this applies so you should google this up.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 16:31:06 No.7611107 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7611116

>>7611029
That makes sense but assuming the constraints change down a theoretical range of "strong force" strength; i.e. for sake of argument (1-118) a parallel universe could be anywhere in the range of options where inside the universe obeys the particular constraint of strength=1 last naturally occurring element and ours happens to be right where #118 is the last naturally occurring element

>>7611047
I knew that, but just was using 118 as a shortcut in meaning. Let's pretend it's "theoretical maximum possible element". Although if it's theoretically infinite then there might be a problem with the concept I'm trying to outline.

This is all sort of stupid, isn't it?

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 16:33:28 No.7611116 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7611107
>This is all sort of stupid, isn't it?
No it's not, you just put it in clumsy terms, which is understandable because nuclear physics isn't trivial.

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 17:06:54 No.7611188 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7612606

>why are there only 118
someone please tell him about neutron stars

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 17:37:32 No.7611260 Report Delete

Quoted By: >>7611287 >>7612389

its like this op: the nucleus of the atom is a club, the protons are niggas and the neutrons are bitches

when the club is still pretty empty, theres plenty room, you just need as many bitches as niggas, it wont be crowded people will be chill

once it starts to fill in, you need to have more bitches than niggas, niggas be tryna get laid and there is competition so you gotta have plenty of bitches to go around

when it really gets crowded you gotta make sure there are plenty more bitches than niggas, you cant get to the bar theres 20 people in the way and you are running into people all over the dance floor, the only way you are gettin laid is if theres lots of bitches

but past a certain point, it doesnt matter how many bitches there are the club is too damn crowded you cant even get a drink shit, niggas and bitches are gonna leave first chance they get no matter how much energy the club is pumpin

the club is only rated for like 250 people so 118 niggas is the most you will see, it rarely fills in past 80-90

Anonymous

Anonymous Fri 23 Oct 2015 17:59:37 No.7611287 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7611260
10/motherfucking10

Would read in a high school classroom to teach regardless of whether or not I get fired

Anonymous

View Same Google ImgOps iqdb SauceNAO sci explains nuclear decay and s (...).png, 23KiB, 1613x252

Anonymous Sat 24 Oct 2015 09:56:55 No.7612389 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7611260
capped

H Sat 24 Oct 2015 13:17:48 No.7612606 Report Delete

Quoted By:

>>7611188
They aren't really a large nucleus, as sometimes depicted.
The outside is a mix of protons, neutrons and electrons. Further down, the electrons and protons become less abundant. In the very centre, it could be some form of quark matter.

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