Understand matter based on the Pauli exclusion principle
Understand matter based on the Pauli exclusion principle
Matter as defined by the Pauli exclusion principle.
© MinutePhysics (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
Matter is everywhere. We eat it, breathe it, drink it. It is who we are. But what is matter? The most basic particle physics definition of matter comes down to one surprising rule. The Pauli exclusion principle, or essentially, electrons hate being alike. To understand why, we have to remember the fact that every electron is exactly the same. Not kind of the same, they're perfectly identical.
Just as you can, at any time, anywhere, spontaneously, write down the number three, and it will mean exactly, perfectly three, as if there were some everywhere permeating three-ness, always available to produce a three at your whim. It's the same case with the electron. There's an everywhere permeating electron-ness called quantum field, and from that field every electron in existence has been summoned, and they are all exactly electrons. So when someone says, every time you breathe you inhale a few of the same electrons that used to be in Jesus or Mozart, that's about as deep as saying that every time you do arithmetic you use the same number three as Archimedes.
What's more, just like you can call on the three-ness to summon negative 3, which has all the exact same properties of three except opposite, and when it meets three, they annihilate, you can summon anti-electron from the electron field and they will annihilate electron when they meet. So given that electrons are all exactly alike, it's a little surprising that they actually hate being like each other. In fact, electrons despise alikeness so much that the universe is forbidden from summoning two or more into the same quantum state.
This is called the Pauli exclusion principle, and what it means in practice is that you can't cram too much matter into the same place-- like a city, where building higher than one story is prohibited. Instead of skyscrapers, compounds sprawl outwards. So at the most fundamental level, matter is just any field, like electron, quark, or neutrino, from which you can summon particles and anti-particles, but only one at every point, which means that, quite literally, matter is everything that takes up space.
Just as you can, at any time, anywhere, spontaneously, write down the number three, and it will mean exactly, perfectly three, as if there were some everywhere permeating three-ness, always available to produce a three at your whim. It's the same case with the electron. There's an everywhere permeating electron-ness called quantum field, and from that field every electron in existence has been summoned, and they are all exactly electrons. So when someone says, every time you breathe you inhale a few of the same electrons that used to be in Jesus or Mozart, that's about as deep as saying that every time you do arithmetic you use the same number three as Archimedes.
What's more, just like you can call on the three-ness to summon negative 3, which has all the exact same properties of three except opposite, and when it meets three, they annihilate, you can summon anti-electron from the electron field and they will annihilate electron when they meet. So given that electrons are all exactly alike, it's a little surprising that they actually hate being like each other. In fact, electrons despise alikeness so much that the universe is forbidden from summoning two or more into the same quantum state.
This is called the Pauli exclusion principle, and what it means in practice is that you can't cram too much matter into the same place-- like a city, where building higher than one story is prohibited. Instead of skyscrapers, compounds sprawl outwards. So at the most fundamental level, matter is just any field, like electron, quark, or neutrino, from which you can summon particles and anti-particles, but only one at every point, which means that, quite literally, matter is everything that takes up space.