"Matter is mostly empty space."
I'm kind of tired of this framing. It feels less like an accurate description of subatomic reality and more like an ice-breaking opener when you meet a nerd at a bar.
I don't even know that it's accurate. It feels like "forbidden knowledge" and that puts me on alert
You know the type of "forbidden knowledge" I'm talking about: it's in the same category as all the "government/scientists/insurance companies/whatever don't want you to know this". It's an invitation to be part of a special class of citizen who has privileged knowledge on the nature of reality, but doesn't "matter is mostly empty space" lean on the idea that everything is still a billiard ball? What does an electron look like when it occupies an orbital? Is it like an angry bee in a jar (or series of jars)? Or is that the idea we're trying to get away from, but not here for some reason?
even if it was a billiard ball or angry bee, if that volume of spacetime is occupied and effectively off-limits to everything that we would traditionally consider "stuff", what does it even matter? If someone buys a house, it's not empty because there aren't more people in it packed like sardines
I dunno. It just bugs the shit out of me. I don't think "matter is mostly empty space" conveys significantly useful information. Maybe I'm wrong? I'm not a particle physicist, or even a regular physicist, or a scientist at all.
It just feels like a cheap gotcha, is all.
#physics #particlephysics
