Why Is 1/137 One of the Greatest Unsolved Problems In Physics?
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The Fine Structure Constant is one the strangest numbers in all of physics. It’s the job of physicists to worry about numbers, but there’s one number that physicists have stressed about more than any other. That number is 0.00729735256 - approximately 1/137. This is the fine structure constant, and it appears everywhere in our equations of quantum physics, and we’re still trying to figure out why.
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Some alien civilization wanted to make a fully simulated space game. One programmer set a constant as 1/137 during development, then left the dev team. After a while some other programmer went over the code and couldn't figure out what the constant was for. He commented the code saying "I don't know what it does or why it has that value. When deleted the whole universe breaks down so don't touch it."
The fact that it's not exactly 1/137 is due to a rounding error in an earlier version of libuniverse. This has been kept in the code for legacy compatibility.
this "Coconut Constant" can be combined with the Rum and Pineapple constants to make an ultimate universal constant, to be discovered by the large piña collider
Its an easter egg. 1/137 is just the programmers name.
What if the parallel universes are created just by varying this constant
If you make a simulation close enough down to every atom isn't that more of a recreation
Its 0.007299, not that hard to solve bros.
Harvard owes you a PhD now
Bruh, it's just a number bruh, it can't hurt you. PhD please.
Mom: we have a ramanujan at home Ramanujan at home:
But y tho
@@HellDragon115 HAH!
Wolfgang Pauli had always been mystified by fine structure constant. He died in hospital in room number 137.
Wait till you realize that that was no mere coincidence (coincidences are a false concept). God will deliver this message soon.
This is when dedication to math goes to fare :)
@@reeflextv9805 Wow that is the 137th time I've heard that crap. God must be telling me something.
@@reeflextv9805 A few questions, why do you come to a physics enjoyers space to tell religious things? What do you expect? Are you simply trolling? I mean no harm.
@@baptistebauer99 Because physicists are also some of the most superstitious people in existence. And because it's funny.
"To build a universe it may be that only one number needs to be decided. And from it all other constants of nature follow." That sounds a lot like the seed value for a procedurally generated world (like mincraft)... But I also like the idea that it could be related to some higher level geometries that we don't yet understand (like PI is to circles).
Oh cool, i bet we got some speedrunner right now doing a small 13 trillion year speed run of our universe
To top that off we know that the plank length is the smallest unit of distance that something can travel, which implies a universal pixel size.
@@RovingTrollno, the Planck units don't work like pixels. The concepts of pixel resolution and physical resolution are not the same. Space does not have unitary cells. The Planck length is the minimum _distance_ that can be meaningful. If two things are closer together than the Planck length, that's fine, but nothing else in the universe can tell they aren't just one thing. It's similar to how resolution works in a microscope. No matter how many magnifying lenses you use, you're never going to see two distinct objects closer together than the resolution.
@@davidhand9721 that's basically a pixel
@@RovingTroll it really isn't, though. Pixels are evenly spaced. Planck lengths are not. With pixels, you can resolve two objects less than a pixel apart if they are on opposite sides of a boundary between pixels; both objects will light up a pixel. However, two physical objects less than a Planck length apart can never be resolved. There are no Planck length boundaries; space is continuous in QM. There are a variety of properties in QM that are quantized, i.e. they can only be integer multiples of some minimum unit. Space is not one of them. Planck units aren't generally related to quantization. For example, the Planck mass is the _maximum_ mass of a single particle, and that particle would be a black hole with an event horizon surface of one Planck area. I guess you could think of the Planck mass as the minimum black hole mass, but it's absolutely huge on the particle scale. It's roughly the mass of a dust mote. The same applies to the Planck time. Time is continuous also, so it doesn't represent something like a frame rate. I hope that clears up the confusion.
i can attest: it's amazing how i always understand almost exactly 1/137th of every PBS spacetime video i watch
Let's entangle: that way I'll always understand almost exactly 1/137th of every PBS spacetime video you watch, without having to do anything, and you'll understand almost exactly nothing, w/o any effort on your part. Everyone -wince- wins.
You're on 137th like, I won't like it to maintain equilibrium
You just made my day!
ahah precious
that's 1/137 more than me.
Little known fact: our universe was a typo, the 4D experimentalists had originally meant to type "1337" for the seed phrase
Great, this is my headcanon now
@@MechaStorm7 Cosmic inflation and redshift is the map getting smaller, dark energy is the shutdown command, and dark matter is the "save-state" on backup media. All is naught as the backup will be deleted as a mistake and a new seed (sans typo) will be started (new heavens and new earth). It's all been foretold and prophesied. In the name of the proton, neutron, and electron; Ramen!
Excellent.
Brilliantly done
Smoke 🎉 me 😂 out
The most interesting thing about physics is that when we start to tug on the strings of one thing we find out it's tangled with the strings of the entire universe. In Marcus Aurelius words: “And in the case of superior things like stars, we discover a kind of unity in separation. The higher we rise on the scale of being, the easier it is to discern a connection even among things separated by vast distances.” Dude lived thousands of years ago and he was already unto something
Or ON SOMETHING 🤣
@@user-io2ym6gm8zHe was Roman... so perfectly plausible 🤣
What's crazier is Marcus Aurelius was one of the emperors, if only all politicians could be so wise.
The most interesting thing about physics is you think it's a real thing and entangles the whole universe. The super, duper majority of the scam known as physics is less real than Vulcans. There's a theory that explains the universe even though none of these people can use any of it to solve their own goddamn lives. They still get divorced. They still have kids on drugs and they still get stuck in traffic jams. They die in plane crashes on the way to AIDS conferences. Their big brains and allegedly infallible math can explain the universe but it can't tell them they're going to get cancer 6 months from now. People belonging to this religion are every bit as insane as Charles Manson. Explains the universe but can't even tell them what's coming 5 minutes from now in their own lives. Geniuses to be sure... the same way Manon's "family" thought he was a genius. When you're galactically stupid, everybody is a genius by comparison so congrats on your stupidity Diego.
@@coyotepeyote whats crazy is the fact rick and morty creators realised this and dedicated ricks universe C-137
This number is also the ratio between electronic force and strong force so it could be related to this
That's just because the strong force coupling constant is close to 1. It doesn't shed any additional light.
It is a quotient relative to the 33rd prime number. But do you understand, what that means ?
Outstanding and stimulating video! When I studied physics at UC Berkeley, my quantum mechanics classes were Physics 137A and 137B, not a coincidence
Of course they were. What other number would they be? 😆
No doubt some of the tenured professors or faculty was having their fun with the undergrads. 🤷🏻♂️😅
And did ANY of it make sense?
If you posted an assignment defining what 1/137 meant: automatic fail.
I was a TA for 137😂. Still haven’t figured it out!
Pauli died in 1958 in Zürich in hospital room No. 137. He was crazy about this room number and saw it as a bad sign!
bad sign?
@@arzelzon4489 well yeah he was right, he died in there. it was a freaking hit job
The real 666
@@tylerknight99 I guess the universe really didn't want him figuring this one out, huh?
@@innacrisis6991 just mocked him about it
I loved the way you all wrapped this video up. Gave me goosebumps thinking that the universe could be built off of one constant variable. Something extremely complex came from something so simple.
Isn't that how computer random number generators often work? A single string that diverges dynamically each time it calculates?
It's our minecraft seed
@@PCRedman that is a very good analogy!
It looks like 4²+1)6)+1
What give me goose bumps is that Archimedes constant PI is there too.
A thought moment: It's fascinating that the rough age of the universe has been believed to be around 13.7 billion years.
To be fair tho, the year as a unit of measurement is just a consequence of Earth’s orbit. It isn’t some sort of universal constant.
1/137 is embedded in the laws of physics, so when the universe was 2 billion, or 3.76 seconds, or 4.98 billion years old, it didn’t matter. It’s a coincidence that we live in the exact time that our current understating puts the universe at 13.7 billion years; and nothing more then that.
@@monkemilitia The unit years is arbitrary, so the aprox age of the universe being 13.7 billion years is completely meaningless.
@@masterleon40 that’s what I said
@@monkemilitiadid you watch the video? 7:20
wow the conundrum really is like discovering pi but not being able to visualise a circle
I like it
This
One of the nicest comparisons I've ever read.
Hmm, similar to visualizing a tesseract. Its one dimension more than we can "see".
Nice analogy 😜
I stopped understanding anything really 40 episodes ago or so. But I am addicted to this channel
The weird synth music, British accent, diagrams, and big words... It just seems like it must be making me smarter.
Thanks Lester, I thought it was just only me!
@@xezazase pretty sure he's Australian and not British
@@pentasteve9723 Must be the physics frazzling his brain.
Me too. 😀
It’s wonderful to have a proportional representation of the proton being projected as an electron after a proton is discovered and weighted in terms of h bar in a field between two h bars. A discovery indeed! To get to h bar.. Thank you Mat.
Thank you Matt and Space Time. You put on an amazing presentation every single time.
Excellent video, but I think the number most universally stressed out over by physicists is the rent.
They are always 'seeking alpha'
You're right, it is too damn high.
All they could afford was a fine structure
It's Trump's IQ.
@@Ace1King1 Why does some Ass King always have to come along and ruin everything by inserting politics into the equation?
so the answer to universe and everything is not 42 but 1/137. Interesting.
My thoughts exactly!
Fun fact: If you invert the fine structure constant, divide the result by pi, and then subtract the golden ratio from the result, you get approximately 42.
@@smithcon no you don’t. What is inverting and dividing? Isn’t that just dividing the other way?
@@smithcon I think you are onto something here 😂
It means God has 34 fingers. 137 in base 10 is 41 in base 34. ("42" was a typo.)
I am amazed! If I was younger, I would choose a physics study in quantummechanica! But these kind of videos keep me up to date!
Fantastic content. Especially @<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="829">13:49</a> onwards. One number to define a universe.
Astrophysicist Arthur Eddington was fascinated by pure numbers. He promoted the "Eddington number, " which he calculated to be 10E80 protons in the universe (current estimate). He used that number and a complicated formula to derive the fine structure constant which had been measured to be 1/136 (at the time). Later, when alpha was measured more accurately and determined to be 1/137, Eddington revised his formula so that it now equaled 1/137. He was then known as "Arthur Adding-one." On the other hand, he's also the guy who put Einstein on the map.
🤣
I love that story! 🙃
Arthur '2 Sheds' Jackson 😁
This speaks to my comment. Humans are still small minded animals who are absolutely dumbfounded by patterns and will go to painful lengths to claims that 1/137 (0.007299270072993) is the same as 137 is the same as 137^2 (18,769 ) and that there is *clearly* SOME MEANING behind similar numbers randomly popping up in completely unrelated places. It’s infuriating and yet mildly reassuring to know that our greatest minds are susceptible to human fallibility just like the rest of us.
Adding-one was also the one who publicly (at a Royal Society meeting) trashed Chandrasekhar Subramaniam's finding, that stars whose mass exceed the Chandrasekhar Limit could end up as a black hole due to gravitational collapse. Eddington did not like Chandra's result because it went against a grand theory of the universe that he (Eddington) had propounded. So, instead of demonstrating the logical shortcomings of Chandra's paper, Eddington said, "I am sure that there must be a law of the universe to prevent such an absurdity from occurring." The 'absurdity,' of course, being the black hole. Science progresses one funeral at a time!
I LOVE it when Physicists, mathematicians, scientists etc etc say "i don't know", it make me excitied cause theres still allot to be discovered and learn about.
EXACTLY! The other phrase we always want to hear was best described by the great Isaac Asimov: "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka” but “That's funny...”
@@pbsspacetime 👍
Just because we don't know something doesn't mean it's possible to learn it. Like how we'll probably never learn if other universes exist.
@@kapsi Indeed, as proven by Gödel.
mathaticians?
This is honestly mind blowing stuff right here.
Absolutely riveting. Even if I don't really grasp all of the concepts. What I do understand is that we live in a universe that's exactly right and that's a whole other philosophical problem. However - as something of an aside - at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="455">7:35</a> - ish you're explaining the drop in the value of the constant from the Big Bang (1) to now (<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="73">1:13</a>7) and I am strongly reminded of H2G2 at the point where Trillian is on the Heart of Gold just about to pick up Arthur Dent, and the Infinite Improbability Drive is counting down.
Frank Sinatra's "Balls in Yo Jaws" used to play at my uncle's house all the time when I was young! I remember him picking me up in his van after t-ball practice, it was cool because it always had candy! He always had a warm popsicle in his pants too, cream-filled I think? He used to compliment me on how good I could keep secrets. The song really takes me back to a better time!
Man I understood 1/137th of it all, but still nice to learn something new that is truly fascinating.
Lol, same. It didn’t help that I kept spacing out during the video. Still, it’s great to know that people are out there trying to answer the questions
As a SETI person, I always wanted to use Pi times hydrogen as the carrier frequency. But now I'll have to rethink unique signatures
@@donadams5503 we won't EVER be allowed to join the Federation as long as we still engage in war.
same.
Here's what the binary in the message @<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="588">9:48</a> translates to 00110100 00110010 = 42 00110110 00111001 = 69 00110001 00110011 00110111 = 137 The problem with this is that it's encoded in base 10 using ascii symbols. Personally I think it's better to encode the numbers directly in binary. 42 -> 101010 69 -> 1000101 137 -> 10001001
More universal is: to draw 137 times the same symbol. If they don’t understand they are dumb.
Better for what?
420 69 1337
@@chrisconnor8086 gg
@@Duiker36 he means it's better to represent the numbers in binary, rather than ASCII. The encoding is actually "42" as a string instead of the actual value 42. Same for the other numbers
Matt never fails to awe and entertain. What a great resource!
earlier in the video you said the fine structure constant started out as 1 but eventually fell down to ~ 1/137 , but it has the unique value of e^2/(4π*E0*h*c) where e, π, E0, h, c, are all well defined natural constants (some with units). But does that mean that earlier in the universe, some combination of these constants also had to start off at a different value? (ex. plank's constant started at a specific value but fell down to 6.6x10^(-34) ? or am i misunderstanding things? does this mean at the moment when a=1, e^2 would have equaled 4π*E0*h*c ? or did it happen to just settle to the value of this combination of natural constants?
e is a purely mathematical constant like pi, not based off physical reality. The other constants may have varied though 😮
Actually due to e=mc^2 all forces in the universe were all once the same. The only relic of this our universe is left with electroweak coupling
This is literally that meme like: "P1: Hey, what's [mathematical equation]? P2: [Some nerdy stuff]... P3: Agreed, [more nerdy stuff]. P4: That's right, but [even more nerdy stuff]!
1/137 is the real-world version of 42. The secret of life, the universe, and everything is encoded in 1/137... Too bad we don't know the question.
Could just be a coincidence. After all, 42 itself has a lot of things unique to itself. As do many other numbers. But since you brought up 42, check out all the stuff it's known for en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_%28number%29?wprov=sfla1
The creators of the simulation just found that the simulation only worked with this number but even they didn't now how
@@LuisSierra42 We just need to build a planet-sized computer to calculate the solution.
"What do you get if you divide 137 by Pi?" OK not exactly 42 but close.
*SLATFATF*
We had a professor in grad school who is obsessed with the fine structure constant. Whenever he gets to the chapter with α, he would go off on a tangent about how peculiar it was. We made him a meme amongst the grad students. Whenever new grad students join, they would see α or 1/137 all over the TA and RA office and wonder what’s up with that. We just tell them to wait till they take that one professor’s class. It’s grad quantum 1, so every new grad student has to take it. And sure enough, after the semester the new students understood all the memes.
😂😂😂
liar, you've said in countless videos about poverty in America that you don't have money to attend college. You do know people can read, right?
@@igisanchez265 woah woah, checking comment history.. did I end back up on reddit?
@@Dan-yk6sy The fedora’s have infested every comment section available on the internet 😂😂
go off on a tangent hehehe 🤓🤓🤓 sorry, never gets old.
Fascinating hearing the issues regarding this number, even though that topics are way over my current understanding, it’s really interesting.
I usually tend to watch about a third of these PBS Space Time videos because I don’t know what the heck it all means, but here goes something!
Love the atmosphere you create around explaning that constants are dimensionless, feels almost paranormal.
True. Perfect thing to watch just before sleeping.
The "dimensionlessness" of a field can vary in size, can be a pointlike singularity and hide hidden variables at the unobservable planck size.
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No Units can be seen as just another way to express A Ratio. What's really turning up are pairs of numbers describing two similar things where the left hand thing is 137 times larger than the Right Hand Thing. But everywhere.
every physicist has nightmares with it.
Watching this video made me feel like I learned something without actually having to have learned anything. Well done.
Plants yearn learning.
Learning there's something you don't know, so now you know you don't know something instead of previously not knowing you don't know something is learning something.
Watching this video made me feel like I learned something without actually having learned anything.
it's cool to know about something I don't know nothing about, but everybody who knows about it,knows exactly the same amount. (have I wrote a poem by accident?)
Username checks out
In the Universal systems of unity (where the light velocity , the Planck constant and the vacuum permeability are dimensionless and all equal to unity ) and also in the framework of Weinberg Salam unification Theory , the fine structure constant (essentially the square of the electronic charge ) is exactly proportional to the Higgs field self interaction coupling with a proportionality factor (pure number) depending on the ratio of the mass of vectorial bosons and of the Higgs field.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="300">5:00</a> very cheeky! I went through a rollercoaster of emotions.😂
These videos manage to blow my mind even though I only understand about 1/137 of the physics.
Better than me...I only understand about 1/137 squared of quantum physics
I understand even less . Will wait and ask God herself. Respect
@@dy6682 - It sounds like you've invented your own god. The true, living God has given us His Word and when he refers to himself he uses masculine pronouns. If that bothers you, too bad. He is, after all, God. He always wins arguments.
Underrated comment
@@dy6682 Not a lot of respect on your part assigning gender to the creator. he is not to be measured by your ideations anymore than we would be by a phage's.
So 42 is NOT the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything 🤯
137 is just over 43 times π. So... 42 is close, but not quite there.
Or better yet, is 137 the question? ;O)-
but it is bro!! Calculate 2*phi, and subtract 1. Square this number. Multiply by pi (I mean, obviously... we did just square the previous number). Now, if you multiply this quantity by 42, you will get 137.
@@iwanttwoscoops Instructions unclear. Smashed calculator with head, and now I count 137 stars circling my melon.. 🤯💫
I was just going to type that (137/3.14)-1 = 42
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="279">4:39</a> the portal from Rick and Morty showing up because they’re from dimension C-137 was a nice easter egg
Nice video, congratulations, always very clear! Let me just point out that in the formula at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="208">3:28</a> there is a typo in the units for the vacuum permittivity: it should be C^2 instead of C^7. P.S.: I totally love the black hat with the channel logo... 🤩😍
Back when Minecraft added the command block, the \give command still used numerical IDs, and the command block's was 137. Back then, I was really excited about this block so I just incorporated that number on a bunch of stuff I made (especially my old Scratch projects) Turns out I couldn't have picked a better number!
I wonder if it was intentional
Yeah -- well, that Minecraft project in the future is accidentally sent back to the creation of this Universe in a few hundred years. The Universe is widely regarded as a bad idea and poorly implemented, and it looks like it was your fault.🙃
@@mpjstuff your name is Marc not Douglas or Addams!
Was just about to say, perhaps you didnt pick that number. Maybe, it picked you. Oddly enough, my favorite numbers are 3, 17, and 79. I can tie these numbers together in different ways a day. Like the old TVLand commercials used to do with actors.
Seems like 137 is the Minecraft seed number for our universe.
this is the clearest explanation of the fine structure constant that i've ever heard. my gratitude is enormous
Thank you very much for your videos, they are great! I have a question/remark about $\alpha$. At minute 7, in the video, you say that $\alpha$ was initially around 1, then that during the expansion of the universe it gradually dropped to its current value. Perhaps this is a kind of equilibrium reached by gradient descent? Maybe a stable universe, induced by $\alpha \approx$ 1/137, acts in return on $\alpha$, preventing it from going any lower. What do you think?
...bro you know KZhead doesn't have LaTeX right?
Thanks alien commentary makes me falling back too earth 😅 Actually it's only left over data in thee DNA strands. Coined Tele pdays. Exception being $$$ just forgot the deci-points spreadsheet. Long distance calls r-included. Superman was sadly eliminated passing earth with a C+. His lucky coin chance had fell into the box. Forgeting pulse rates distribution raised furry smashing the booth into total volume decimation. I'm gonna give comprehensive a like for remembering my friend Superlatives.
I was recently studying the bohr model of the atom and I saw that the velocity of an electron in the first bohr orbit of hydrogen is c/137
Maybe if we just used base 137 instead of base 10 this would make sense. If only we had 137 fingers.
But it seems to me that the constant is only closely approximated by 1/137, the real number is slightly different
well, every base, when written is its own base, is base 10, the problem is what base is that written in
I think base e would be more natural.
@@petersage5157 Or base pi.
@@petersage5157 Ah, a very wise choice!
In my head, an analogy appears: Couldn't we indeed compare Alpha with our commonly known Pi? Imagine our maths doesn't know about the concept of the circle. But everytime, when talking about angles in geometry, this mysterious 3.1415 appears. For me it really looks like Alpha is hinting towards a deeper concept or principle we haven't discover yet.
There are more similarities between Fine Structure Constant and Pi than just a number with never-ending digits and a dimensionless value. Both describe a geometric ratio. Whereas Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to diameter, Fine Structure Constant can be shown to be the ratio of geometries that include circular properties. Thus, Fine Structure Constant can be derived from Pi. "The Relationship of the Fine Structure Constant and Pi" by Jeff Yee
And sometimes it appears in contexts that seem completely unrelated to circles at first glance too.
@@DavidtheRationalist So the Fine structure Constant is to Pi what a 4th dimensional shape is to a circle?
That's a good point. Pi is also a dimensionless constant resulting from a ratio. Pi is the ratio of a circles circumfrence to its diameter.
@@PhailRaptor more like relationship between pi and the diameter, they are direct relations. But instead of just double, their relation involves all of the other fundamental constant of the universe
Even as a lay person, I think I can imagine why this number would be so damn tantalizing. Questions like “How does Quantum Mechanics fit with Relativity?” or “What caused the Bang Bang?” or “What’s at the center of a black hole?” seem to call for a response of, “Well, I sure hope the combined work of scores of teams of brilliant scientists eventually figure that out, ideally in my lifetime, but it seems possible we’ll never know.” The fine structure constant not only feels like it’ll inevitably be part of some greater understanding of physics, but also that there’s just enough information there to make it feel like, “if only I could just bang my head hard enough against the problem I just might be able to unlock an answer, and maybe even that new understandings of physics along with it”.
I have to say, you put this in a way that I see reality, the void, and the reaction a little more (designed space created vs the creation of a space per the reaction on ones reality in its building or as it is built. What is more real -the void between reacting and the reaction per the void as it is pre reaction into its reaction. Ty.
Thanks for the video.
It’s crazy how 4π just pops up in Coulomb’s Law. 4π steradians is the solid (3d) angle of a whole sphere. If you haven’t yet discovered steradians, that’s like 360° but for a sphere not a circle. The universe is telling us it prefers spheres, and that’s roughly what we see at every scale of organization we’ve observed.
It makes sense when you take into account that a sphere creates the shortest distance around a center for all points along the surface. In the case of Coulomb’s law, an electron emits an electric field equally in all directions from itself, so the force generated from that field would logically form a sphere. If it formed a cube or an oval or any other shape, that would mean some medium or something is causing an unequal amount of force from a center point
@@julianbell9161 leptons, muons, and peons. ❤
The point also is, why tf is Pi everywhere? It is just circumference upon diameter of the most basic geometrical figure we see or can imagine of.
@@rajdeeppatel9151mmmm pie
The 4π is an addition by us to make our math neat.
Matt you and the team that put PBS Space Time episodes together week after week are doing a fantastic job in explaining some of the more difficult concepts that underpin physics. Your delivery is not only clear and concise but also entertaining as well as thought-provoking. Bravo to you all.
pbs logo is npc meme xD
Well said
Well said
Thank you PBS.
Such a complex script and you make a reading error in the last few sentences haha. Love it.
Excellent explanation of the fine-structure constant. I got my PhD earlier this year for measuring constraints on variation in alpha (an area of research going back to 1956) in nearby Sun-like stars, and that quote from Feynmann made it into my thesis. (For the curious, I applied a method for measuring the fine-structure constant in astronomical observations to main-sequence stars in the Milky Way for the first time, allowing us to put a constraint of ~12 parts per billion on any variation in its value within 52 parsecs of us, about a hundred times more precise than previous constraints measured in our galaxy.)
Good on ya mate. What next?
Ok, but can you see why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch? Edit: Seriously tho, that's awesome!
Check out the big brain on Daniel!
@@yzmotoxer807 Pulp Fiction?
@@EmrysMerlin8807 you got it, dude
If α changed over time, does that mean the ratios between the other constants changed over time? e.g. rewrite the equation as c = e^2/(α4πε₀ℏ); either the speed of light changed over time, some other constants changed to hold c constant, or the formula for α isn't true at all times.
This is a really great question. I hope he answers it in the next video.
My guess as to the answer: it’s the minimum value of the fine structure value that is actually a constant. The value that changed over time has decreased down to approach this constant limit, and this constant limit is the α that shows up in the equation with other constants of nature.
I would guess π changes from time to time.
Jokes aside, as the fine structure constant is also the electromagnetic coupling constant, I would guess that IF (big if) the formula is true at all times, it's the electric permeability of the void to change over time. But that's just a wild guess, it could totally be that c was different in the past or that the formula needs adjusting to account for different energy levels. Who knows.
I think that "over time" was relatively quickly during the formation of the universe. As he mentioned, higher a values mean that atoms cannot form. So the early purely energetic universe had this super high a value but everything had to cool down to a ~ 1/137 before "stuff" could form from the pure energy state.
Fascinating! Oh, and well told. I had to get used to the presenter, but soon enjoyed it very very much!
Matt: Do you want to know what the video is about? Squarespace: No thanks. Just take the money.
Okay, I'm so glad you brought up PI towards the end. I was struggling to understand what the difference is between the fine structure constant and something like, yeah, say PI. It's also unitless, yet still describes a pretty fundamental aspect of nature - namely, "roundness". I felt much less crazy knowing far smarter people than me are already thinking about this ^.^
My exact same thought. Pi comes litterly in every single equation so why not 1/137
I think the difference is that we know what π means in terms of how it relates to the geometry of Euclidean space; that being the constant relationship between the square of the radius and the area of a circle. The confusion around α is that nobody can figure out what relationship it is actually describing. In other words, π is to a circle as α is to a (?). The answer might lay in finding out which mathematical structure can replace the (?).
Alpha is directly responsible for the resonance frequency of the hydrogen atom, 1,420 MHz - or a wavelength of 21 cm. If you receive a modulated 21 cm signal (like the Wow!) you can be pretty certain that somebody wants to speak with you. Just like in the film "Contact" written by Carl Sagan, they receive a 1,420 MHz signal multiplied by Pi, to reinforce the idea that a rational entity was behind it. Alpha also reinforce the idea that the Universe could be somehow the work of a Master Designer...
There are more similarities between Fine Structure Constant and Pi than just a number with never-ending digits and a dimensionless value. Both describe a geometric ratio. Whereas Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to diameter, Fine Structure Constant can be shown to be the ratio of geometries that include circular properties. Thus, Fine Structure Constant can be derived from Pi. "The Relationship of the Fine Structure Constant and Pi" by Jeff Yee
Because there are twenty numbers just like the fine structure constant and they all can't be mathematical in nature
It's also 33rd prime number (starting counting from 2), thus for communication it might make sense to transmit list of prime numbers up to 137.
I like this idea
@@jajssblue That it is a prime-number actually freaks me out a little ^^
@@Chareidos Ditto
mason's have 33 degrees too
It's not a prime number; it's an irrational number.
I really enjoyed that, very intriguing. :)
I would agree on alpha being a mathemtical constant like pi or e. Like both it discribes a proporionality between one or more physical properties. They are purely derived from mathematics and have no real physical property. Yet they are fundamental to make our mathematics work with the observations of physics.
But if α was larger in the past, then it cannot be a mathematical constant, at least, not exactly. Maybe the true constant is a mathematical limit that is reached when time goes to infinity and the current value of α is then a close approximation of it.
The coy teasing of some yet unseen structure deep inside the fabric of our reality fills me with fascination and wonder.
So, essentially, alpha is the random seed value for the universe. Seriously, you just described a map-generator taking a seed for the universe's creation. BTW, love this video -- it's my new all-time favorite from this channel!
Exactly what I thought while watching the video! I suddenly had flashbacks of playing Minecraft and thought: "Wait a minute! Are you telling me that 1/137 is our universe's seed?!"
It's not really like a random number seed if it's used in calculations all the time. A random number seed matters exactly once. If it mattered twice or more, then it wouldn't be random. Then there's the fact that it isn't really a constant, and charge isn't really fundamental. It's more like a maximum resolution or stress-sensitive recursion limit, if we are going with the whole computational analogy. I'm currently keen on seeing it as a byproduct of neglecting to define a natural unit for charge. We have Planck lengths, times, masses, etc., but you can't get Coulombs (the SI unit of charge) out of there without seeing alpha as the ratio between the electron charge and the natural unit charge squared. It doesn't really tell us why there's a maximum or minimum or what it means, but it does make it a lot less spooky. Good try, though. Keep learning and thinking.
That's what I was thinking.
@@Bone_Thug wroung!
@@davidhand9721 charge has a maximum and a minimum? Is there anything else like that, other units or significant compound units? Temperature has absolute 0, but that's all I can think of. If some basic unit of charge were to be shoehorned in without deriving it, what significant change to the equations might there be? And would rewriting them to consider that offer any insights?
The fine structure constant is endlessly fascinating. Thank you so much for this video
He says he failed the test and you find his severe LACK of knowledge fascinating. Insane much?
So like the Golden Angle 137.5. degrees. The principle is at work in the formation of pine cones, sunflowers, pineapples, and cacti etc. Saying that a given branch or leaf will grow out of the stem approximately 137.5 degrees around the stem relative to the prior branch?
If you have a chance, watch the movie "The Quiet Earth". Its plot involves the fine structure constant. The ending still haunts me even though I haven't see the movie in almost 20 years.
I rented this movie in the mid 90s. A very underrated / unknown film. It was so good, it's also still kind of a nightmare/fantasy of mine.
@@wmwilliamsiii I've been trying to remember the name of this movie for years, and oddly enough, it was released 37 years ago...
@@Aircool212 too bad I probably won't be around to watch it in a hundred years from now
@@Aircool212 ITS A SIGN FROM THE GODS lol
@@comparatorclock - Or _THE_ God !
In movie Stargate there was a scene when Ra says something like: "You advanced much, you mastered nuclear energy". I always had a feeling that advanced alien wouldn't point out something that average human think is important while in reality being just application of some more profuond science. He (she or it) would rather say something much less obvious but in reality much more important for better understanding the universe. And maybe he would say something like: "You noticed 137. That's impressive. You have a feeling it's important. You have some hypotheses about it. Go and dig dipper." And most of the contact team would be like: "What the...?" And scientists would be blown away and spend rest of their lives studying 137. And unsatisfactory ending of this story could be that some 300 years later scientists would discover that the alien was just trolling them :D
Love your explanations, 👍✌🖖🥃
Let me add something unexplored. The number 137 appears as the hypotenuse in a Pythagorean Triple with the proportions 8<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="490">8:10</a><a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="313">5:13</a>7. The sum of these three numbers is 330. Divide 330 by 105 and the quotient is 22/7, the famous fraction used to represent pi. All this leads to marvellous things.
Also Rick and morty were in the universe c137. Which is also interesting lol
@@sillybears4673*cue "You need a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty" copypasta*
Interesting
Only problem is that pi is not 22/7 so not precise enough.
@@ColinCarFan I didn't say pi was 22/7. I presume you know that proportion appears in the design of the Great Pyramid.
Why am I hearing about this number for the very first time in my life after years of watching various popular science videos like that? Odd it’s not talked about more.
It’s a pretty important thing in the deep math of physics. If you aren’t much into that, you’ll not see it much.
These pop-science channels haven't been around for a super long time all things considered, and there's a lot of depth in physics. While im very surprised I never heard about this in other videos about the constant's (though maybe I did in passing and forgot) it does make sense that it couldve just taken awhile for a channel to get to it for a full video.
@@-dennis3755 well the preface to these channels is what TV used to be - and its not there either (I know, i have watch ALL tv, up to the yar 2010)
@atomsofstardust Maybe you've heard about 1/137 before, but it was like a sound wave passing through you at just the right frequency - you didn't realize it was there until someone pointed it out. But don't worry, now that you've heard about it, you can be the life of the physics party with your newfound knowledge!
When I was about to post my Like on your comment--; the number of Likes already-there just-then--; was "137 Likes--!".
Around 10 years ago me and a friend of mine started seeing the number 137 pop up everywhere. We treated it as a joke as if it's some sort of special haunted number, trying to research about it also didn't give us answers. Turns out it has a much more significant meaning than I anticipated.
Now that's extremely weird, because i can second that. O.o
Around 10 years ago me and a friend of mine started noticing that the number 137 didn't pop up everywhere in our lives. We've laughed about it ever since: "Can't believe we didn't notice that earlier!" And there we were thinking we were so special.
@@horzathirteen Hey! This same thing happened with a bunch of different numbers that didn’t keep popping up. It happened with a bunch of different people that don’t even know each other so it can’t be a coincidence.
:) add to that my birthday but don;t freak out (00729)
This but 136 for me
During the "how being dimensionless isn't special" section, I was really hoping he'd throw in something that actually does equal the FSC.
What really gets me is how the units all get canceled out, leaving just a number. My mind won't accept just a number with no unit of measurement attached.
Ok, now Dimension C-137 makes so much sense to me 🤯
Dude...
If the fine structure constant wasn't constant (like during the big bang), wouldn't the relationship between the other constants (<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="725">12:05</a>) also be different during that time? Does that severely change any interactions during that period?
I had the same question in my head. Wouldn't it indicate a difference in the behaviors and interactions of the electrons shortly after the big bang?
Yep, that is what he was laying out. Once the constant was fixed it fixed in place all the other constants. That dictated all interactions that could possibly occur in an alpha=1/137 universe.
I think what's going on is that the "fine structure constant" and the actual fine structure number are two different things. The fine structure number is dependent on energy levels and what changed in the history of the universe, while the fine structure constant is the unchanging absolute minimum the fine structure number can be, and is the constant that physics is built around.
@@taelim6599 Just thought the same.
@@taelim6599 very good way of putting it, the semantics is useful here
The number 137 appears in various Vedic texts, including the Rigveda and the Yajurveda. For instance, in the Rigveda, there are 137 hymns dedicated to the deity Agni, the god of fire. The Taittiriya Samhita, part of the Yajurveda, mentions 137 "flames" associated with the cosmic fire. This is so facinating !
This is the sort of comment I love. Where it is seen from a completely novel perspective that hardly anyone would consider their being any connection to. I am currently writing a book on how the emotions relate to quantum and vedic principles. I will dig deeper. Thanks for the comment.
if alpha = 1 in the beginning and alpha also equals e^2/(4piE0hbarc) <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="722">12:02</a> (sorry for how that looks) then is it the case that the top and bottom of the fraction were equal or did alpha just change to equal that?
The ending the last sentence in space-time every single episode always hits me as hilarious. I noticed the video was getting close to done and my brain started finishing every sentence with space-time to trying to guess when it was finally going to arrive. I had to focus to actually listen to the lore of our finest constant... of space-time.
If I asked how high you were, would your answer be "space-time." ?
It amazes me just how much humankind has been able to discover and/or figure out about our universe over the past century or so. Definitely has to be one of, if not the actual , most important "renaissance" periods of mankind.
Flat Earthers: challenge accepted
the simulation discovers the simulation rules
Offcourse We are accelerating our knowledge since newton era.
@@AlokKumar-tk1ty Agreed. My point is the sheer amount of "acceleration" over the past 100 years is just astounding.
Crazy to think this isn't the first time.. there's countless lost civilizations, possibly having up a 1000yrs of studying math
Electrons have charge, bound electrons are spheres, h-bar is the angular momentum of the sphere, so is it surprising that alpha is the ratio of the energy of the photon that becomes an electron in pair production and the electron bound to a proton, as well as the ratio of that photon and that electron? Alpha is the fundamental constant tying energy, matter and spacetime together.
Beautifully explained. I love seeing proof of our universe being designed, programmed, engineered, etc. Imagine what’s left to discover if our “advanced physics” only explains less than 5% of the universe.
Ehhh, when there are potentially infinite amount universes with potentially infinite amount of different results of big bangs, and potentially infinite amount of configurations, the chance of getting the right situations to produce a viable universe as we know it is 100%
Putting the fine structure constant in a communication seems like a good way to make aliens think the message is just a natural fluke.. after all, it turns up everywhere and in strange places.
It turns up everywhere in the ratios between values. It wouldn't make any sense at all for it to pop up encoded in binary in a transmission unless that transmission was sent by an intelligent species.
"Putting the fine structure constant in a communication seems like a good way to make aliens think the message is just a natural fluke.. after all, it turns up everywhere and in strange places" ...Radio waves also appear everywhere in nature. But if you received one showing you an imagine of a hydrogen atoms structure, you'd realize quite quickly that it's probably not a naturally-occurring source.
@@olivernorth7418 - what if the aliens don't have the same binary meanings as us... what if our way of saying 137 in binary is the aliens' way of saying "731" in the same coding? This makes no sense!
Easier with the value of h2 i believe?
@@matchesburn Unless the receiving aliens treated the signal source as occurring naturally through evolutionary processes. The aliens are as unlikely to share our natural/unnatural dichotomy as they are to use meters and seconds... just saying.. 🙂
just finished reading QED and loved hearing all the references in this video. been enjoying the channel a lot. thank you for all your hard work!
137 is a Pythagorean prime as well. Likely someone mentioned this already in the comments, but I'm not inclined to read all of them.
You tickled my brain 137 times.
i'm just imagining if Douglas Adams wrote the meaning of life to be 1/137 in his book. It would mess with physicists so hard
Page 137?
you are a genius As a kinda smart man, who watches programs like this, never have I read a more truthful statement
think about the hitchhikers, trying to do the math while holding a joint and a bag of weed. .
Meaning of life is Easy: RESPONSIBILITY!
DON’T PANIC!
Arnold Sommerfeld contributions to Physics are under appreciated. He was one of the strong bridges between Classical and Quantum Physics.
Misread "Schwarzenegger" at first glance. For a sec I was like - I guess his contributions to physics ARE underappreciated!
Ist this value linked to the complexity of the interactions possible? I saw this number emerge in chaos theory too. So i cant help thinking this number is the one that maximize the complexity of particle interactions
The fine structure constant (α) is a dimensionless fundamental constant of physics that characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic force between two elementary charged particles. It is approximately equal to 1/137. The fine structure constant is one of the most important constants in physics, as it appears in many different equations, including the Schrödinger equation, which is used to describe the behavior of quantum systems. However, the fine structure constant is also one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics, because its value is not predicted by any current theory. There have been many attempts to explain the value of the fine structure constant, but none have been successful. Some physicists believe that the fine structure constant is simply a coincidence, while others believe that it is a sign of deeper structure in the laws of physics. One reason why the fine structure constant is so important is that it is a unitless number. This means that it does not depend on any particular system of units, and so it has the same value for all observers in the universe. This makes the fine structure constant a very attractive candidate for a universal constant, which is a constant that has the same value throughout the universe. If the fine structure constant were to have a different value, then the laws of physics would be different, and the universe would be a very different place. For example, if the fine structure constant were slightly larger, then atoms would not be able to form, and the universe would be a barren place. If the fine structure constant were slightly smaller, then stars would not be able to shine, and the universe would be dark. The fact that the fine structure constant has the value that it does is essential for the existence of the universe as we know it. This is why the fine structure constant is one of the greatest unsolved problems in physics. Physicists want to understand why the fine structure constant has the value that it does, and what its deep meaning is. Here are some of the specific questions that physicists are trying to answer about the fine structure constant: Why is the fine structure constant approximately equal to 1/137? Is the fine structure constant truly constant, or does it vary with time or space? Is the fine structure constant related to other fundamental constants of physics, such as the speed of light or the Planck constant? Does the fine structure constant have any deeper meaning in terms of the underlying structure of the universe? Finding answers to these questions is one of the most important challenges facing physicists today.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="312">5:12</a> I thought he was about to say “When two particles love each other very much…”
This was an absolutely fantastic episode, another one I'll be rewatching multiple times
*RIGHT???*
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="558">9:18</a> my first thought was a list of prime numbers, like 2 3 5 7 11 13 etc, because they work in any number system. Just remember Contact (1997) film🙂
Here’s an idea, plot it on board using geometry, draw the number and see if a pattern or some insight forms.
When I watch your videos and I understand something you said, it feels like such an achievement. Thanx for that.
Amazing content, as always! I can't really understand physics because I never suited it except for two semesters at uni, but even then it was taught in a similar way - very entertaining and inspiring! I'm really grateful that this channel exists.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="224">3:44</a> Double O Seven or one over three of the first prime numbers if you skip 2 and 5, meaning 1 3 7
I always speculated the FSC defined the vacuum state of our universe's chemistry. Hence no need for anxiety regarding false vacuum decay due to Q-tunneling or some extraordinary energy pulse. The energy already depleted to a nominal post BB, allegedly.
Outstanding video. Expertly narrated and gently explained. Thank you. All good wishes.
Euler's constant (also called the Euler-Mascheroni constant) is a constant which is dimensionless and takes the value of approximately 0.577). Although it is a mathematical constant it crops up in physics, for example in the dimensional regularisation of Feynman diagrams.
for oilier macaroni, use a little over 1 part oil for every 2 parts water, got it. :P
@@KalonOrdona2 This joke is going straight to my back pocket 😂
3-1/2 minutes into the clip the values for the variables are displayed. But in other sites I saw permittivity did NOT match the value shown. In fact C to the 7th power denominator does NOT match the C squared in the numerator. Therefore you cannot have a unitless result. That needs to be fixed!
137 is my favorite number for some reason. I also really like 37. I see it every where in tv and movies. I’ve mentioned it to several people and they noticed it a lot as well
I see 47 everywhere. It's actually the most commonly occurring random number. There's even a society based around the number 47
Perhaps you're seeing these numbers everywhere because God is trying to call you to Him. 137 and 37 are connected to the deep things of God and His nature. 137 is the 33rd Prime number. 33 is a numeric identifier for the Messiah. 137x3 = 411 411 = The English ordinal value of Genesis 1:1 in the KJB (first verse of the Bible) 411 also = The alphanumeric sum of Hebrew, Greek, & English for "Word" Jesus Christ is the "Word" made flesh, the intelligibility of God manifested. The Greek gematria (alphanumeric) value for Jesus is 888 888 = 37x24 2nd Prime = 3 4th Prime = 7 24 & 37 reading vertically above. 2424 is the sum of prime numbers from 37 to the 37th Prime. The alphanumeric value of Jesus Christ in All 3 languages of the Bible (Hebrew, Greek, & English) is this: 37th Prime + 37th Prime + 37th Prime 37, often expressed as the digital constituents of 3&7 is God's secret: "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth HIS SECRET unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7 3:7 or 37 is God's secret. Amos is the 37th book counting backwards from the end of the Bible. This verse is intentionally placed to draw attention to the fact that the reverse of 37 is 73. 37x73 = 2701, which is the Hebrew alphanumeric value for the first verse in the Bible (Genesis 1:1). The King James Bible, which is God's authoritative word in English was first published in 1611. 1611 = 537 + 537 + 537 5 is God's number for grace. This shows 5 concatenated with 37 three times. 373 is a representation of 37 mirrored about the 7 at the center. 373 also equals "word" in Greek gematria. The 373rd chapter of the Bible contains word# 314159 in the King James Bible (KJB). 3.14159 = pi HIS WORD is the 314159 & 31460th words seen here: "The LORD therefore hath performed HIS WORD that he hath spoken..." 2 Chronicles 6:10 I could go on and on, showing thousands of examples of God using 37 and 137 to show who He is and illustrate His plan. However, time is short. Jesus Christ is returning soon. I'll leave you with one final pairing of 37 that illustrates what is coming (pay attention to the chapter/verse notation): "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Hebrews 10:37 "For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be." Psalm 37:10 Notice that the 10 and 37 are flipped. This is because these verses are both talking about the same event... a convergence point of the Lord's return. It's two different sides of the same coin, and even the number 10 here is of incredible significance but beyond what I can explain in this comment. If you know God's secret of 37 (Amos 3:7), then it's clear what these two verses are referring to. God has given the address of His return with 37 and 10, but knowing how they map to His written word is key. In 2022, we were put on notice that the Lord is returning soon: "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Revelation 22:20 God's countdown for His return is based on a reverse sequence. Even among believers, not many are aware of this. However, if you are aware of this fact, then you will know that God is encoding the year that we should be acutely aware that He is coming soon. When the notation grouping of 22:20 is flipped you get 20:22. 2022 is the year that the Lord is letting us know that He is surely coming quickly. Time is running out. Now is the time to repent and turn to Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Lord and Savior, the God who loves you and redeemed you of your sins by dying on the cross in your place. I suggest reading Romans 10:9-10 Lastly, if you want to see more incredible evidence of God's numeric signatures I suggest looking for the video, "Thy Word Be Verified [Extended]" on the channel Truth is Christ.