• KTJ_microbes@mander.xyz
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    1 day ago

    Okay. I need a physicist. How does that relate to the heat death of the universe. Is all iron-56 the most probable distribution of energy in the universe (max entropy)?

    • Droggelbecher@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      Not a physicist yet, temporarily a high school physics and maths teacher until I can start my PhD

      Fe-56 is the heaviest nucleus that releases energy when other nuclei fuse into it. Everything heavier requires energy, that has to come from somewhere else, to fuse. All things tend to keep doing stuff that release energy, and they don’t like to do stuff that requires energy. So, in a long enough amount of time, nuclei keep fusing together while it releases energy, and stop when it starts to require energy.

      At least that’s what happens inside regular old stars. The vast majority of them will have an iron core after a certain amount of time.

      It pretty much only takes nuclear physics into account though, whereas the actual universe is a lot more complicated and will thus probably not turn itself into all iron.

    • Zink@programming.dev
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      21 hours ago

      Not a physicist, but I thought the heat death of the universe also involved all the matter being sucked into black holes and turned into pure energy. There’s a big chunk converted up front in the accretion disk, then the rest is converted into hawking radiation as the black hole(s) evaporate over the oodles and oodles of years.

      Whether or not there are also lumps of iron-56 or other matter floating around in the cold void probably depends on the real truth behind dark matter and dark energy and their long-term behavior.

    • Friendlybirdseggs@sopuli.xyzOP
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      2 days ago

      Its actually 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,0 00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 ,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        23 hours ago

        1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 years

        Fixed the spaces

      • Usernamealreadyinuse@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Yeah i got this first, thanks! But it didn’t give any meaning in size, after I saw “infinite” I knew more or less how long I should wait

        • Zorque@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          It was mostly for the joke, as the scientific calculator answer is just the equation written with different notation.

    • DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social
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      2 days ago

      Iron has the most stable nuclei because of… chemistry reasons… so it was thought most radioactive decay chains would effectively end there. This is also neat on an astrophysics level because iron is the last element created by first generation stars, so you’d get this grand entropic cycle that ends with a universe made of black holes, neutron stars, iron, and loose hydrogen atoms, more or less. In theory but not practice, probably.

      For all human practical purposes decay chains end in lead though. The time scale in the meme is the difference between “effectively stable” lead and “as stable as possible” iron.

      Tl;Dr everything below iron will get fused into at least iron by stars. Everything above will decay into iron.

    • guber@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 days ago

      Iron-56 is one of the most stable nuclei, along with nickel-62, so after untold time lengths, due to standard fissile decay/spontaneous fusion (possibly due to quantum tunneling), all baryonic matter decays into iron-56, and a little nickel-62.

    • ImWaitingForRetcons@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Elements with a proton number less than or greater than iron become more stable as they approach iron, and so, over very, very long timeframes, from random quantum tunnelling effects, will favour being iron over being other elements.

      Thus, in 10^~1500 years, virtually all atoms in the universe will turn into iron, assuming protons don’t decay (which may or may not happen).

    • CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
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      2 days ago

      To my understanding, elements smaller than iron can produce energy in nuclear fusion reactions (like in stars and such), but bigger elements require a net energy input to make them fuse. Meanwhile, bigger elements eventually decay into smaller ones (though many take an extremely long time). So, given a sufficient not quite eternity of time for everything lighter to get fused together and everything bigger to decay, iron is the midpoint everything ends up as.

    • Taalnazi@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      For some extra existential crisis, consider this.

      In 1x1010^56 years, a new big bang could occur in the universe, through quantum tunneling.

      If you multiply that with all possible ways in which all subatomic particles in the observable universe could be arranged (1x10^115), that might be a possible timeframe for a new universe exactly like ours.

      That is, a universe in where you posted that comment, and I’m writing this right now. Maybe we’re doing that a few seconds differently, but overall it’s the same universe.

  • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Someone tried to make a meme out a few random bits of knowledge and I’m not sure what my reaction is supposed to be.

      • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
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        2 days ago

        I’m not asking about nuclear physics, I’m asking about where to draw the line between a meme and not a meme. The post is nothing but a few statements with a picture of a cat. I mean, using a cat picture as a bookmark for a science book would be the same thing but I wouldn’t call it a meme. If the cat was famous, maybe we’d have something but I don’t know him.

        • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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          23 hours ago

          If the cat was famous, maybe we’d have something but I don’t know him.

          It’s a famous cat insofar as this is a meme template. You just haven’t seen it before.

        • kadu@scribe.disroot.org
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          1 day ago

          I’m asking about where to draw the line between a meme and not a meme. The post is nothing but a few statements with a picture of a cat.

          I can draw 7 straight lines in a blank piece of paper, and a lot of people would recognize it as one of the most widespread memes ever on the internet. You should really look up the definition of what a meme is, and it’s biological origin. Hint: memes are not things that make you in particular laugh.

          • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
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            21 hours ago

            Yeah I haven’t seen all of them. Talk of decay and a cat in the same post leads me straight to Schrodinger’s cat instead.

          • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
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            21 hours ago

            Ok. So it’s not meant to be Schrodinger’s cat. Yet Schrodinger’s cat and proton decay are so closely related.

          • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
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            21 hours ago

            Ok I’ll take that. But now I still don’t understand how that particular cat photo meme can relate to proton decay or 10^1500 years. Like, the cat is looking me. So what.

            We could probably make something out of that cat being Schrodinger’s. But I don’t think that’s the point. The cat is outside the box, not inside. I mean, proton decay is quite precisely what Schrodinger’s cat is about, so I’m confused if it’s supposed to be Schrodinger’s cat or not.