Forms strong chemical bonds and reacts violently with many substances
Highly dangerous and corrosive
Neon (10 protons)
An inert noble gas
Completely non-reactive
Safe and stable
Used in lighting and signs due to its stability
That’s not just perception. Same with chlorine/argon. Etc. These chemicals would have different characteristics that react very differently with the chemicals around them even if we weren’t here to identify the differences.
Nah dude, they’re basically the same thing. Both have a composition of protons/neutrons, both undergo a phase change to a plasma state at incredibly low temperatures, both interact with other atoms via the fundemental forces, both can (hypothetically, we can’t actually fuse anything above boron for complicated reasons I’ll pretend I remember) form one another via fusion, both are actually composites formed from tossing the fundemental particles in a blender, etc.
The differences we see are, when considered within the scope of all the possible arrangements of particles and forces we could have gotten, impossibly minor.
Look, I agree with everything you said, at the most fundamental level, they’re just different arrangements of the same cosmic lego pieces. But I think that’s exactly what makes their differences so fascinating. The fact that one extra proton, a particle so tiny we can barely comprehend its scale at ~1.67x10^-27kg, can transform a violently reactive gas into something completely inert is mind blowing.
It’s like saying a single base pair mutation in DNA and the original sequence are “basically the same thing” because they’re both just nucleotides in a chain. Sure, you’re technically correct, but that tiny change can cascade into dramatically different proteins, cellular behaviors, and ultimately entire phenotypes.
The beauty is in how these tiny quantum differences cascade up into the macro world. One proton’s difference doesn’t just change numbers on a page - it’s the difference between neon lighting up our cities and fluorine eating through your lungs. Their atomic radii differ significantly, their electron configurations lead to completely different bonding behaviors, their ionization energies vary markedly, and they even interact with electromagnetic radiation in distinct ways, absorbing and emitting entirely different wavelengths of light. All because of having 1 more of something 0.84 femtometers across. That’s crazy.
Damn, you’re really good at identifying miniscule differences!
Seriously though, I was attempting to highlight how truly unremarkable these changes are when viewed from a grand enough scale. That’s not to say I dont understand, I do, and nuclear/particle physics are fields absolutely filled to the brim with things worth waxing poetic about. And when viewed from a field that deals with meta-analysis of physical laws themselves, the differences that people are excited for start to appear… pretty mundane. Every person on earth is similar yet different, but we all avoid that guy who shares his life story at the drop of a hat because, to (badly) paraphrase Syndrome, “once everything is unique, nothing is.”
The nihilist vs. absurdist meme is popular now and does seem to serve this example well - It’s not that these changes dont matter or aren’t cool, it’s that nothing matters and probably everything is arbitrary, and that is in of itself cool! It raises so many unanswered questions that string theorists would love to tell you the answers to but no! I cast you out, you and your vile “branes”! Back! Back in your caves you slime beasts! We shall not treat your physics fanfic this day! that we just don’t even have guesses as to what could maybe possibly be the answers yet! Hell, we’re not even sure the holographic universe theory is right, but more than half the physics community is convinced enough to get published in Nature while assuming it.
There’s so much wild stuff being discovered right now, I guess it’s just sad to see people hung up on physical properties that were largely solved more than 50 years ago.
How does the addition of just one proton change the material’s characteristics SO much??
It doesn’t, we’re just really good at identifying the differences.
Fluorine (9 protons)
Neon (10 protons)
That’s not just perception. Same with chlorine/argon. Etc. These chemicals would have different characteristics that react very differently with the chemicals around them even if we weren’t here to identify the differences.
wait till you hear about neutrons and electrons…
Nah dude, they’re basically the same thing. Both have a composition of protons/neutrons, both undergo a phase change to a plasma state at incredibly low temperatures, both interact with other atoms via the fundemental forces, both can (hypothetically, we can’t actually fuse anything above boron for complicated reasons I’ll pretend I remember) form one another via fusion, both are actually composites formed from tossing the fundemental particles in a blender, etc.
The differences we see are, when considered within the scope of all the possible arrangements of particles and forces we could have gotten, impossibly minor.
Look, I agree with everything you said, at the most fundamental level, they’re just different arrangements of the same cosmic lego pieces. But I think that’s exactly what makes their differences so fascinating. The fact that one extra proton, a particle so tiny we can barely comprehend its scale at ~1.67x10^-27kg, can transform a violently reactive gas into something completely inert is mind blowing.
It’s like saying a single base pair mutation in DNA and the original sequence are “basically the same thing” because they’re both just nucleotides in a chain. Sure, you’re technically correct, but that tiny change can cascade into dramatically different proteins, cellular behaviors, and ultimately entire phenotypes.
The beauty is in how these tiny quantum differences cascade up into the macro world. One proton’s difference doesn’t just change numbers on a page - it’s the difference between neon lighting up our cities and fluorine eating through your lungs. Their atomic radii differ significantly, their electron configurations lead to completely different bonding behaviors, their ionization energies vary markedly, and they even interact with electromagnetic radiation in distinct ways, absorbing and emitting entirely different wavelengths of light. All because of having 1 more of something 0.84 femtometers across. That’s crazy.
Damn, you’re really good at identifying miniscule differences!
Seriously though, I was attempting to highlight how truly unremarkable these changes are when viewed from a grand enough scale. That’s not to say I dont understand, I do, and nuclear/particle physics are fields absolutely filled to the brim with things worth waxing poetic about. And when viewed from a field that deals with meta-analysis of physical laws themselves, the differences that people are excited for start to appear… pretty mundane. Every person on earth is similar yet different, but we all avoid that guy who shares his life story at the drop of a hat because, to (badly) paraphrase Syndrome, “once everything is unique, nothing is.”
The nihilist vs. absurdist meme is popular now and does seem to serve this example well - It’s not that these changes dont matter or aren’t cool, it’s that nothing matters and probably everything is arbitrary, and that is in of itself cool! It raises so many unanswered questions
that string theorists would love to tell you the answers to but no! I cast you out, you and your vile “branes”! Back! Back in your caves you slime beasts! We shall not treat your physics fanfic this day!that we just don’t even have guesses as to what could maybe possibly be the answers yet! Hell, we’re not even sure the holographic universe theory is right, but more than half the physics community is convinced enough to get published in Nature while assuming it.There’s so much wild stuff being discovered right now, I guess it’s just sad to see people hung up on physical properties that were largely solved more than 50 years ago.