Response to jonnythan post #297
Erimitus: The question remains; is matter condensed energy and if it is how do we (well I) prove it?
jonnythan That's more of a philosophical question than a physics question when you get down to it.
Erimitus: Well, yeah, and science is nothing more than natural philosophy when you get down to it. It all started as philosophy and there continues to be a philosophy of science and I did not even realize I was on a science thread. And …I really do not belong here.
jonnythan: Go do some reading on the Standard Model, which is basically the absolute limit of our understanding of subatomic particles and "small" physics in general (as opposed to general relativity, which is our best understanding of "big" physics). You'll find that we have all these types of subatomic particles. We know all sorts of stuff about them - mass, charge, spin, etc. But we really don't know what the f*** they are. We can model them and build other particles (like protons and whatnot) out of them. But we don't know what they're made of other than "stuff."
Erimitus: Some people are smart and some people are not so smart. I am in the ‘are not so smart’ group and what you suggest is probably way beyond my limited abilities. Nevertheless, I will Goggle ‘Standard Model’ and have a look. Thank you.
Erimitus:
If matter is a form of energy
And energy is the ability to do work,
Then matter is a form of the ability to do work.
If work is the transfer of energy
Then matter is a form of the ability to transfer energy.
Erimitus: this is not making any sense to me. I am obviously missing something. I know, I know.. I will look up standard model.
jonnythan: On top of that, we know we can convert matter to energy and vice versa. In an atomic bomb detonation, for example, the bulk of the energy comes from matter literally turning to energy (a staggeringly small amount of it, too, which is mind-blowing - it takes just one gram of mass being converted to energy to equal the energy output of the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki).
jonnythan: So if you want to think of these subatomic particles as highly condensed packets of energy, no one is actually going to stop you and no one can really tell you you're wrong.
Erimitus: and yet they do…