this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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[–] itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 1 week ago

It is an interesting theory, for sure. Instead of countless 3-dimensional particles, you have a single (or very few) 4-dimensional objects. You can imagine it like a sheet of fabric that is our present, with everything above the sheet being the future, everything below the past. When you want to sew a thread (our electron) through the sheet, you need to pierce the fabric, but to do it again, you first need to piece it the other way, giving you a positron. You can create or destroy arbitrary many of these, but you need create or destroy one of each every time. More interestingly, it is exactly determined which two will annihilate each other, as the allegorical loop of thread gets pulled tighter and tighter until it gets pulled though the sheet. The universe would be deterministic.

I'm sure there's a myriad of contradictions to modern QM and particle physics, but it's fun to think about nonetheless

[–] callyral@pawb.social 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

second, slightly different electron shows up

universe implodes or something

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[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 96 points 1 week ago (2 children)

When is it my turn with the electron?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 70 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You can have it as long as you don't observe it.

[–] voldage@lemmy.world 41 points 1 week ago (1 children)

don't worry guys I'm keeping track of it it's moving very fast but oh fuck sorry guys my bad

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

For fuck sake Pauli, stop trying to smush it in the palm of your hand!

[–] BluesF@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

No Peter, this isn't an electron, this is the power of the sun

[–] Comment105@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm gonna catch it with chopsticks.

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[–] Dogs_cant_look_up@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It already is been again and soon now.

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[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Create the parent entity electron, give it properties, then clone as needed

That's just efficient world design, guys, why make assets different if you don't gotta, yakno?

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[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 week ago (8 children)

So if I can destroy 1 electron I destroy every electron?

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 14 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Only in its future. Probably you’d have to find the electron precisely at the end of its timeline.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Let's try it and find out!

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You would need a positron to do that and all you might have done is reflect it backwards in time.

If you could "remove" it by placing it into another dimension, it might disprove the theory, but the causal domain might be larger then previous assumed.

This is one of those Math Theories that isn't technically a Science Theory. We can make a mathematical model, but it's untestable.

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[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 78 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I see, charge is a class method and not an instance method. Well played universe creator.

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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 56 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (8 children)

Don’t most sub-atomic particles have the same charge and mass? Why just electrons?

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 23 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The whole thing is an abstraction. The nucleus isn't actually tiny ball shaped things mashed together, but rather cloudy stuff which would probably not be identical if we could actually see them. The quarks that make up protons and neutrons are considered elementary particles and identical, but they don't move around much unless energy is used to split them.

The electron however is an elementary particle that moves outside of the nucleus and can move from one atom to another. So the hypothesis is that if we could follow one electron from the big bang to the end of the universe, and this electron could move both forwards and backwards in time, it would potentially be enough with just one.

It probably doesn't hold up very well, but it's an interesting thought experiment.

[–] dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

It's one of those things which would be pretty much impossible to prove, but it holds well with the effects we currently see. Electrons can annihilate by colliding with positrons. But the collision we see could be a single electron changing from moving forwards in time to moving backwards in time. It holds that it's the same particle in the equations by cancelling out the minus sign of the charge with the minus sign in the time. So while we see a collision, the electron would just see itself changing charge and start moving backwards in time instead.

It's a beautiful hypothesis, and fills me with chills to think about the electron "experiencing" all of history an unimmaginable amount of times.

[–] Backlog3231@reddthat.com 8 points 1 week ago

Quarks and gluons are a roiling, seething sea of energy. The particles move at fractions the speed of light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZfmG_h5Oyg

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 30 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No, electrons are much smaller than protons, which are slightly smaller than neutrons.

[–] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 67 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think they meant “aren’t all protons the same as other protons? neutrons the same as other neutrons?, etc.”

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah exactly. I couldn’t think of how to phrase that exactly without a long explanation though.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You'd have to ask John Wheeler, which would be difficult since he died in 2008.

[–] BenPranklin@lemmy.world 76 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Just get the electron to ask him next time it goes back in time, duh

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I would, but I only speak positronic.

[–] Damage@feddit.it 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] yesman@lemmy.world 48 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Nobody wants to covalent anymore.

[–] SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Fine, I’ll do it myself
-Thelectron

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[–] DragonsInARoom@lemmy.world 41 points 1 week ago

Let him cook

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)

To his credit, Wheeler did try to make a quantum leap. It just wasn't coherent. If he had kept at it, I'm sure he would have had momentum.

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'm glad you realized the gravity of the situation.

[–] Jarix@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

I'm out in left field trying to figure out what's happening?

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

This thread indicates you might have a bit of a strange quark.

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[–] iii@mander.xyz 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

We are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago

Shouldn't be just electrons though - don't all instances of any given type of subatomic particle have the same mass and charge?

[–] athairmor@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So, if route all of the electricity in my house through my body, how far can I travel in time? What about a car battery’s worth?

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Sorry, you need 1.21 jiggawats.

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