bauke67 said:
How many elementary particles do we know exist? I know there's electrons (up and down)quarks and neutrino's(i'm not sure what neutrinos are and where we find them though)
Also, do you have an idea why some things in quantum theory just sort of randomly happen(according to a probability distribution), such as light choosing to manifest itself wherever it pleases?
I've had a few introductory courses in quantum theory and watched many youtube videos, so I'll understand some vocabulary.
We typically define elementary particles as particles that cannot be divided up any further. As far we know we have 6 quarks: up, down, charm, strange, top, and bottom. There's 3 leptons, and they each have their own respective neutrino that goes with them: electron, muon, and tauon. And all of those have their own antiparticle.
Then we get into the realm of the mediating particles. There's the photon, which mediates the EM force. The gluon for the strong nuclear force. And the Z0, W+, and W- mediates the weak nuclear force. And most recently we uncovered the Higgs Boson, which helps describe how objects without mass, like the photon, can interact with objects that do have mass.
So that's (6 + 3 + 3)*2 + 1 + 1 + 3 + 1 = 30.
As for the randomness, there's still restrictions. It can't do whatever it pleases, if that's what you're talking about. Light manifesting by itself cannot happen unless there's some interaction that mediates it, otherwise we'd be breaking energy conservation. There's specific rules that are set in place for quantum mechanics. What Schrödinger's equation allows you to do is to figure out the probability distribution as a function of space and time. This lets us estimate the shape of the electron clouds around atoms. With enough math and powerful computers, one can figure out the distribution for a whole molecule like water.
I hope that does answer what you're referring to.
MiskWisk said:
Why is it more understandable to call quantum physics magic?
Incidentally, how the hell does negative kelvin work? I know it is quantum physics but people get upset at me when I make the above statement.
I think it's because some people like to think that whatever is unexplained
is magic. And here we get into the definition of unexplained. As for all the math, jargon, and reasoning that goes with it, quantum mechanics is pretty well explained. So that might be why they get upset. But as to
why the universe behaves that way, no one knows for sure.
Negative Kelvin would mean that it is hotter than any object with a positive temperature. I'm afraid I don't know too much on that subject.
TheRaider said:
why does dark travel faster than light?
Could you elaborate where you found this postulation? I might be able to help if you gave me a bit more context.