If the solar system was an atom, our motion would be governed by quantum mechanics, not newtonian mechanics. Which is not the case.
What if?
Submitted 2 years ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/e42d8679-e28b-4f6c-a0a4-6837778369ef.jpeg
Comments
fckreddit@lemmy.ml 2 years ago
hihi24522@lemm.ee 2 years 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 years ago
Well due to absence of gravitational repulsion, the bonded “atoms” would come closer and collapse right?
hihi24522@lemm.ee 2 years 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?
beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 years ago
Look this is every stoner freshman dorm thought since 1965 probably
hakunawazo@lemmy.world 2 years ago
It’s the Men In Black marble scene again.
Shark_Ra_Thanos@lemmy.ml 2 years ago
No, it’s the AT scene in which Finn sees Princess Bubblegum’s given cosmic awareness.
MIB just ripped them off.
hakunawazo@lemmy.world 2 years ago
catsarebadpeople@sh.itjust.works 2 years ago
Woooooah, it’s not though
Hammocks4All@lemmy.ml 2 years ago
Even if it was, who gives a fuck, I’m trying to sleep
niktemadur@lemmy.world 2 years ago
And not even by a long shot!
What they found down there… defies explanation.
A reality that has blurriness encoded into its’ fabric.
niktemadur@lemmy.world 2 years ago
"What if our entire Solar System is just a plum pudding?"
- JJ Thompson
milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 2 years ago
I think Pluto was trying covalent bonding, but got the rules wrong; that’s why it lost its status as planet.
Backlog3231@reddthat.com 2 years ago
Well, we probably aren’t atoms, though it is fun to think about. We probably are holograms tho.
pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 years ago
and proxima Centauri and it’s planets are another atom
itsnotits@lemmy.world 1 year ago
and its* planets are
curiousaur@reddthat.com 2 years ago
And a galaxy a neuron. And the universe a mind?
tgm@lemmy.world 2 years ago
This thought has l kept me awake fire longer than I care to admit
WraithGear@lemmy.world 2 years ago
An excretion disc points to a different phenomenon causing the orbits. As opposed to a shell representing probability and energy level. But they are similar.
All this too really point out that I too have stayed awake thinking about this for a long time
Thorry84@feddit.nl 2 years ago
The electron shells are just a model, that’s not how it really works. Look at this image for a more realistic model of how an atom works:
psud@aussie.zone 2 years ago
Accretion disc. Your word scans like a real word but seems less than palatable
The atom model we’re talking about is really, really unlike an atom
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 2 years ago
Basically all atomic models that would lead you to that conclusion are wrong.
the_beber@lemm.ee 2 years ago
Models in general are wrong.
chuckleslord@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Image
I_am_10_squirrels@beehaw.org 2 years ago
But some are useful
StaticFalconar@lemmy.world 2 years ago
Including the one where the solar system is one big atom.
JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 years ago
I don’t think you understand their point. Their saying that what if we exist at the scale of storms to us as some incomprehensibly larger beings’ universe.