Comment on What if?
hihi24522@lemm.ee 2 months ago
While others have correctly pointed out that the model of atom which is reminiscent of a solar system is not accurate. I would like to point out that systems of massive bodies in space could possibly be used in some ways similar to atoms.
The closer you get the stronger the pull is, but if you’re going fast enough, you can find stable configurations. This means it is possible (though incredibly unlikely) that if two solar systems interacted the right way, you could get a stable combined system. Two systems could orbit each other with or without sharing planets which is reminiscent of certain kinds of atomic bonds. You can even have system interactions where one system steals a planetary body from another. Sure there’s no ionic bonding because gravity isn’t polar but it’s still possible to create “bonds” of some kind.
Also, the specific configuration, total mass, and number of massive bodies in each system would affect how it interacts with any other system, kind of like chemical properties of elements.
If you throw a massive enough thing fast enough you can rip a solar system apart kind of like how throwing a neutron or nucleus fast enough at an atom can break it apart.
Complex gravitational systems can have specific and often complex physical structures/shape too, which could be argued as similar to the way proteins have complex and specific shapes. These shapes would change the way the systems interact with other systems because gravity and distance are related. Again creating these stable configurations would be unlikely but still not impossible.
Hell, there are even weirder similarities too. Stars and black holes “decay” and the collision of planets can yield different numbers of “particles” which interact in new ways because their mass is different.
Sure, gravitational systems are not nearly as stable as atoms, they probably couldn’t be ordered into a table like elements, and do not operate on exactly similar forces like atoms. System-chemistry would also be very directional which would be tedious, but I think it’s cool that it could be possible to do similar things with gravitational systems as you can with atoms, even if they don’t have similar structure or internal properties.
mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Well due to absence of gravitational repulsion, the bonded “atoms” would come closer and collapse right?
hihi24522@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Oh yeah eventually they will. But eventually protons will decay. Could you do something with these bonded “atoms” before they collapse? Probably not as much as you can before an atom decays but yeah you’ve definitely got at least a few million years for most systems right?
mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Unlike proton decay, the “atoms” in your system will accelerate towards each other and will not make any kind of “stable” system as you have mentioned. A chemical bond analogue is not formed but instead a nucler reaction type will occur. But should we call pressing two clay pieces together as some nuclear type process? I don’t think so.
Not to mention electron does not revolve or have ant kind of orbit. Its too different to be called similiar
hihi24522@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Firstly, you are wrong. Binary star systems are a good example this. Secondly, thank you for helping me find more similarities between atoms and stellar systems and learn new words.
From the Wikipedia page for Binary Star System:
Again is it unlikely? Hell yeah but I covered that point previously and the important part is that it is still possible.
Next, I need to thank you because you helped me find out that your “nuclear type reactions” happen and are similar to nuclear combination of atoms.
The orbits of planets in a binary system can be circumbinary which would be the “nuclear type” as you called it where the stars (or most massive body in the system) begin orbiting each other and planets orbit around both as though they were a single massive object.
However, they can also be circumstellar (as I described previously) meaning the two stars orbit each other but the planets orbit only one star each. This would be much more analogous to an ionic bond (though again without polarity) where two atoms are attracted to one another but do not share electrons.
Furthermore, it seems there is even more similarity as the circumbinary systems are more unlikely to break apart but the circumstellar type require stars to be far enough away would make them more easily dislodged. This seems similar to nuclear decomposition being much harder to pull off than chemical decomposition.
But wait, there’s more.
Even if the stars get close enough to touch, they can still be differentiated and are “stable” This seems much more like a nucleus since the “particles” are packed tightly together and the whole “becoming unstable means I eject a particle” kind of screams radioactive decay.
Anyway, there are “periodic solutions” (stable configurations that follow a cycle) to the three body problem and there are likely some for n-bodies. So contrary to your assertion, it is possible to make a stable system with multiple massive bodies that do not combine “nuclear type”.
As you can see from the images on the Wikipedia page, these systems have unique shapes which is what I was referring to as the analog of proteins having specific shapes.
Lastly, the first line of my original comment was that yes, these solar sustems are reminiscent of a wrong model of the atom. I’m well aware of the structure of electron orbitals and Schrödinger’s equations for electron position etc.
My point was not to say that stellar systems are structured just like atoms or behave exactly like them either. My point wasn’t even that there are more similarities that differences. It was simply that there are similarities between the two and that you could build some analogous structures/chemistry with gravitational systems.