Common sense versus science

I'm not sure if this is on topic or not but one of the things that boggles my common sense but science teaches is how much space there is at the molecular level. Things that look so solid to us at the atomic level are mostly empty space. That is cool to think about but pretty crazy. It makes you think about how real what we think is real really is.

Quote: FrGamble

I'm not sure if this is on topic or not but one of the things that boggles my common sense but science teaches is how much space there is at the molecular level. Things that look so solid to us at the atomic level are mostly empty space. That is cool to think about but pretty crazy. It makes you think about how real what we think is real really is.

Weird, ain't it? I remember seeing a program where they put it into perspective. Look at your computer screen real close. If you got good eyes, you can see the individual pixels. If one pixel represented an electron, then 1,000 pixels would represent a proton. And If you used those two particles to make the element hydrogen and affixed them in their proper orientation to this scale, they would have to be ELEVEN MILES APART.

"Mostly empty space" doesn't even begin to described how much of everything is nothing.

The empty space is actually filled with Dark Matter... :-)

Quote: Face

"Mostly empty space" doesn't even begin to described how much of everything is nothing.

Yes and no. That hammer full of empty space
doesn't feel too good when it slams down on
my thumb. It's more like we're all radios that
are tuned just to get this one frequency and
not what's in between, the part we see as
empty space.

Quote: FrGamble

I'm not sure if this is on topic or not but one of the things that boggles my common sense but science teaches is how much space there is at the molecular level. Things that look so solid to us at the atomic level are mostly empty space. That is cool to think about but pretty crazy. It makes you think about how real what we think is real really is.

I think fractal math or chaos theory or both state that patterns scale up and down, so that for instance a day has a pattern much like a year.

In that sense, the empty space within an atom mathces the empty space within the Solar System, for example. With some differences, like moons, for which the atomic structure lacks an equivalent.

Although if forces occuppy space, then there is ahrdly any empty space at all. Take gravity, for example, Not only does the Sun's gravity reach every aprt of the Solar System, but also the gravity of every planet does the same thing. Likewise in an atom the electric cahrge of the protons of, say, an iron nucleus reaches all the way to the outer-most electron shell. most impressive, though electrons are infinitesimally small compared to a proton, their electric charges have the same value.

So the space is not so empty when seen in terms of fields.

Quote: Face

Weird, ain't it? I remember seeing a program where they put it into perspective. Look at your computer screen real close. If you got good eyes, you can see the individual pixels. If one pixel represented an electron, then 1,000 pixels would represent a proton. And If you used those two particles to make the element hydrogen and affixed them in their proper orientation to this scale, they would have to be ELEVEN MILES APART.

I remember in IIRC astronomy class that there is a kind of collapsed star where all of this empty space is not there but all the atoms have collapsed completely. I forget the exact correlation but it said if you had a piece the size of a period in the book it would weigh as much as the building you were in. Might have been even more, perhaps someone else heard about the same kind of thing and can jog my memory.

Quote: AZDuffman

I remember in IIRC astronomy class that there is a kind of collapsed star where all of this empty space is not there but all the atoms have collapsed completely. I forget the exact correlation but it said if you had a piece the size of a period in the book it would weigh as much as the building you were in. Might have been even more, perhaps someone else heard about the same kind of thing and can jog my memory.

A neutron star. If you had a spoonful and dropped it, it would punch right through the earth, it's so dense and heavy.

It's so dense and the gravity so strong that if your house was on one and you stood on a kitchen table and jumped off, by the time you hit the floor you'd be traveling at eleven million miles per hour.

Quote: Face

A neutron star. If you had a spoonful and dropped it, it would punch right through the earth, it's so dense and heavy.

It's so dense and the gravity so strong that if your house was on one and you stood on a kitchen table and jumped off, by the time you hit the floor you'd be traveling at eleven million miles per hour.

Thanks, I sort of thought that was it but not enough to say for sure.

But how could my house be built on one as if it was wouldn't the cement block for the foundation be so heavy that no mason could lift the mortar let alone the block? (for those of you on Long Island, that's a joke, those north and west of Albany you already knew that.)

Common sense tells us our reality is real, but science can't prove it.

Quote: rxwine

Common sense is fine. But it can be trumped.

Sure, but this left and right stuff can be worse with the tiller in a small boat.
And one British plane in WW2 had a switch that had to be raised to lower the landing gear... that sure confused some pilots needlessly.

Rough surface and lack of separation of air flow makes sense. Look at many birds. Also holes in the wings to keep the airflow intact.

Miss the gorilla? Only if told in advance to watch the ball. Some people are alert by nature or training. Some people sense when they are being looked at by possible predators. Some people do notice their environment: they see the gorilla, the color changes in card trick videos, the street scene that seems out of place, the vagrant with good shiny shoes, the bum with an expensive wrist watch, the car with black wall tires, etc.

Common sense is fine but not always enough.