this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
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Science Memes

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[โ€“] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The best part about the fine structure constant is that it is not related to any other thing. It just is.

It's a magic number that just emerges in physics.

And it is not constant.

Even though it is.

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Dimensionless numbers, not dependent on any mere mortal, subjective arbitrary unit of measurement like length (meters or yards or cubits - same difference) or time.
Whether you are on Earth or a planet in Andromeda or a billion light-years away, if you study subatomic structure you WILL bump into the fraction 1/137. Just like you will in geometry with 3.1416.