Splitting the electron would change chemistry. Atoms combine based on their
number of atoms. H2O (water) is formed by two hydrogen atoms each sharing
their electron with an oxygen atom. What if we could split the electrons on
the hydrogen atoms and share half an electron? We might invent H4O with
each hydrogen sharing half an electron only. Who knows what H4O would be
like? It might act like water with the same properties and weight, but
might be explosive due to the extra hydrogens that might easily be released
in a chemical reaction. Maybe we could compress water into H4O2 that would
take up less space, and could easily be expanded into regular water. Or
maybe it would be fluffy water if the half-electron bonds don't hold as
close to the nucleus as a full electron.
It also would change electricity. Electricity is based on the flow on
electrons. Who knows what we could do if we could get fractional electrons
to flow. There might be whole new fields of subelectronics.
If such a thing could occur, I would expect it to be rare and/or temporary.
We don't see a lot of it in nature. It would open up a lot of strange
possibilities, but then again maybe not.
-- Harvey Newstrom, Security Testing Practice Leader, Fiderus Phone:321-676-4894 Tollfree:866-FIDERUS Mobile:321-258-4809 FAX:321-676-5707 Pager:866-786-1001 or mailto:pager@HarveyNewstrom.com Web: http://HarveyNewstrom.com or http://Fiderus.com> -----Original Message----- > From: owner-extropians@extropy.org > [mailto:owner-extropians@extropy.org]On Behalf Of Corwyn J. Alambar > Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2000 7:29 PM > To: extropians@extropy.org > Subject: Splitting electrons? > > > Someone forwarded this to me - aside from he somewhat > sensationalist tone, > what exactly ARE the implications of this behavior? I don't see > how having > two separate lobes for a wave function could pose a problem per > se - after all, > with hyperboloids and such the same equation generates two distinct and > separate shapes, but with the same equation. > > Of course, I am probably just showing my ignorance here, but I > thought I'd ask > more experienced heads than mine. > > -Corey >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:50:17 MDT