Proton madness

[Ann]

A carbon atom with protons, neutrons and electrons.

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A proton made up of three quarks, being bound together by the strong force and chromodynamics. Derek Leinweber, CSSM, University of Adelaide

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So the picture at left is how I used to think about protons (and neutrons, and electrons too, come to think of it). Like neat little balls. You know, like "Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights." (Oh, that was Shakespeare, I guess, Julius Caesar, Act One, Scene Two. But my idea of protons really did look like sleek-headed men that sleep well at night.)🥱

Well! The real proton is something else, that's for sure! Three quarks, bound together by a "chromatic" force, representing the (very virtual!) colors red, green and blue, interact through their chromatics and through the binding force of gluons, which also come in three "colors". This description means nothing to me, but seeing the animation knocks my socks off.

So you must see the animation, too. It is here, but it is large, almost 2 MB. But it's really worth it!

Don't know about you, but the proton will never be the same to me.

Ann

[Chris Peterson]

So the picture at left is how I used to think about protons (and neutrons, and electrons too, come to think of it). Like neat little balls. You know, like "Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights." 👨 (Oh, that was Shakespeare, I guess, Julius Caesar, Act One, Scene Two. But my idea of protons really did look like sleek-headed men that sleep well at night.)🥱

Well! The real proton is something else, that's for sure! Three quarks, bound together by a "chromatic" force, representing the (very virtual!) colors red, green and blue, interact through their chromatics and through the binding force of gluons, which also come in three "colors". This description means nothing to me, but seeing the animation knocks my socks off.

So you must see the animation, too. It is here, but it is large, almost 2 MB. But it's really worth it!

Don't know about you, but the proton will never be the same to me.

And don't forget that the electrons aren't orbiting the nucleus, either.

[orin stepanek]

Oh Ann! Kinda like a rhythmic heart beat!

[Ann]

And don't forget that the electrons aren't orbiting the nucleus, either.

I know - well, I sort of know it - but I absolutely can't picture it in my mind. Does the electron create a sort of "cloud of possible positions" (I was about to write "a cloud of possible positrons") around the proton?

Ann

[Ann]

Oh Ann! Kinda like a rhythmic heart beat!

Exactly!

Ann

[neufer]

Does the electron create a sort of "cloud of possible positions"
(I was about to write "a cloud of possible positrons") around the proton?

• Both:

Zitterbewegung ("trembling motion" in German) is a predicted rapid oscillatory motion of elementary particles that obey relativistic wave equations. The existence of such motion was first proposed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1930 as a result of his analysis of the wave packet solutions of the Dirac equation for relativistic electrons in free space, in which an interference between positive and negative energy states produces what appears to be a fluctuation (up to the speed of light) of the position of an electron around the median, with an angular frequency of 2mc²/ℏ, or approximately 1.6×10²¹ radians per second. For the hydrogen atom, zitterbewegung can be invoked as a heuristic way to derive the Darwin term, a small correction of the energy level of the s-orbitals.

[Fred the Cat]

The ether has made way to the sea. On course, through the waves, particles storm around leaving us in the wake while the bosun's mate tries to stay aboard.

“Then along came a tsunami, that sat down beside me, and we charted new ways to parley”

You have to admire particle physicists’ ability to describe an ocean yet fully mapped. Now if we could only sail from sea to shining c.