h a l f b a k e r yIt's not a thing. It will be a thing.
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This is an installation for a large gallery
(a
very large gallery) or, more probably, a
salt-plain somewhere.
After walking through the installation for
a
number of hours, you finally spot
something shimmering in the sunlight,
about a mile away. As you head towards
it, you eventually
make out that it's a
sphere of indistinct colour, about a metre
in diameter, on a plinth. As you get
closer, within a few yards and then a few
feet, you find that it's not just one
sphere,
but a cluster of about two hundred
smaller
balls, each the size of an apple.
That's it. That's all there is.
However, after scratching your head for a
while, you notice a small arrow mounted
on the plinth, pointing into the distance
(as almost all arrows do). Hefting your
rucksack, you take careful note of the
arrow's direction, and start walking.
After
a couple of miles, you pass a couple
walking the opposite way, and exchange
a
few words before continuing. You see
no-
one else.
You've been walking for about two and
half hours now, and the exhibit that you
last visited is just the tiniest dot against
the white salt plain.
After three hours, you almost miss the
next part of exhibit, passing a hundred
yards to the side of it before you notice
it's
there. Hastening up to it, you find that
most of the exhibit is actually its plinth -
otherwise you'd have missed it
altogether.
The exhibit itself is actually a single
fuzzy
sphere, about the size of a golfball.
This is getting exhausting, but you're
determined not to miss any of the
installation. There are only another 78
electrons to go, and then a brief 17 mile
jog will take you to the nucleus of the
next atom.
You set off once more, but this time with
a slightly uneasy feeling about the
solidity of the packed-salt floor in which
your wraith-like boots are leaving
footprints.
(?) The Particle - The wrong turn that led physics to a dead end
http://www.blazelabs.com/f-p-swave.asp
replace those solids with moving waves [xenzag, Mar 10 2008]
Solid Gold exhibit
http://www.dickelio...oPage/solidGold.jpg
[normzone, Sep 03 2008]
Idea for the Plinth
http://www.youtube....watch?v=lFqlQiTTHRs
[SANEAlex, Jun 07 2011]
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Annotation:
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Wave at the electrons. [+] |
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This is quite brilliant, but I'm afraid that the point would be lost on most people. You would only get geeks like me, the odd school science class, and hikers using the exhibit as way-points on a hike.
(Reminds me of a scale model of the solar system I went to once - some 5km long. The sun was the size of a large beach ball.) |
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Then some joker comes along and add or removes an electron... |
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//but I'm afraid that the point would be
lost on most people.// That's OK. I think
geeks deserve more and, in any case, they
need to get out. |
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//Then some joker comes along and add
or removes an electron..// Are you
positive? |
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I've been through a couple of those solar system exhibits. They are impressive. This should be equally informative, if a bit rough on the ankles. |
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Err, I make a 1m sphere of gold to weigh 10,107.6kg. |
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[Neutrino's] is correct in his calculation,
but that is irrelevant. Why do we want a
1m sphere of gold? |
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By my math, a 5cm-radius sphere only contains 523 cm^3; we'd need about 100,000 cm^3, more like 1/4 of a 1m sphere, not 1/2! |
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Jutta, a 5cm-radius sphere has a volume
of about 65 cubic centimetres. [EDIT!!
EDIT!! EDIT!! This is very embarrassing,
but you're right. I divided the radius by
two for some reason. Very embarrassing.
Don't tell anyone.] |
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BUT but but but - the exhibits aren't made
of gold. |
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Oops, sorry, missed a factor of 10^3 early on! |
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//BUT but but but - the exhibits aren't made of gold.// |
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Then why is the idea called "solid gold exhibit"?
[edit - clued in by 78 more electrons to go] OK, I get it. |
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I'm sort of curious what happens if I pry up one of the neutrons? |
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// what happens if I pry up one of the neutrons? // |
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Ah, but you can't. That's the beauty of this exhibit - it doesn't need any security. |
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The moment you look at a neutron, or the nucleus, or an electron, you collapse its wave function; The act of observation causes the observed object to change its state (mass, velocity, position) and so as soon as you see it, it's not there any more. Heisenbergian uncertainty will prevent you ever actually interacting directly with any of the nucleons - unless, of course, you are struck unexpectedly by one of them, in which case your mass, position and velocity will become fixed (look around and see all those little grave markers ?). |
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This would be a wonderful punishment for gold-obsessed recidivistic kleptomaniacs, ever rushing onwards towards where they think the gold is, and as soon as they spot it, pouff! it vanishes. |
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[-1] does not really yell out reality . Sorry, i'm expecting realities answers to be a jaw dropping hit of beautifully grounded simplicity . |
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If the First electron's name is 'Ella', what are the
expected names of her outer radius sieplings then
??,.. she would be embarrassed to be the only
Electron, assigned a proper, proprietory, name ?,. |
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Turning to the Nucleus, how does one keep track
of spins and positions, let alone ID's of such a
messy vibrating, assembly. |
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As to Spheres : Here in Modena, an artist has
made a 'Gold - Keep Individual Distance' exibit
piece, installed semi-permanently in the courtyard
of a former Convent, now a public Library. |
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It's about 4-5 meters in it entirety, the sphere is
contrued from a very large number of tag-welded-
together steel-plates, - the steel plates are shaped
from individual citizens hand's silouettes - , and in
the centre, an about 45-60 cm's diameter GOLDEN
surface 'ball'. |
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The steel plate hand figures are a tad rusty by
now, half a year since it's installation. |
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There's a calm, resident/people's atmosphere
about it. I like it. |
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Needs better transportation. |
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I read this idea, and was about to point out that it's
a bit of an artsy fartsy way of making a not-very-
profound point. Then I realized who'd written it. |
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If you really want it artsy fartsy you should use the back to back parabolic mirror hologram trick and have them as your plinths then the electron representations could be seen but not touched a kind of Schrödinger uncertainty you would not know it wasn't where you thought it was until you tried to touch it ;-) |
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[+] Awesome! You might be able to stick this in Arizona somewhere. |
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