Talk:2364: Parity Conservation

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Revision as of 16:32, 26 September 2020 by 162.158.62.245 (talk)
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Would it be possible to mirror the light particles bouncing off a mirror in an experiment similar to what cueball is trying to do? Donthaveusername (talk)

Not sure exactly what you are asking, but photons (and gluons, and Z-bosons, and if they exist, presumably gravitons) are their own anti-particle, so photons are the same regardless if the source is matter or antimatter. https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1153 for more info.173.245.52.187 04:25, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
I'm also not exactly sure what you mean, but if you're asking about using a mirror to conduct an experiment in reality, the answer is no. Particles in our world will either pass through a mirror or reflect off of it. Either way, they're still in our world. Mirrors are of use when we want to see how reflection works (assuming the mirror reflects the particles concerned). The benefit to enlisting Bloody Mary's help here seems to be that she is located in another location inside or connected to the mirror, which is why she has to perform the measurements; the measurements can't be performed outside her secondary universe. The experiment here confirms whether her universe and our universe work in the same way. Nathan (talk) 06:39, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
I don't understand physics very well, but my simplistic understanding is that the electric and magnetic field components of the photons that are normal to the surface of the mirror are indeed actually mirrored. I don't believe the orientation of the photons, like that filtered by 3d glasses to separate the eyes, is mirrored. I could be wrong. 162.158.62.245 16:30, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

I am wary about "an entire anti-person wo uld annihilate a normal person if they touch"-type stuff. It was a trope used in '60s cartoons that there'd be an anti-matter world and only representative being/item A and representative being/item anti-A touching would create mutual (or not, if even more laughably plot-driven in favour of one of them surviving) vanishing of both... And often with just vanish-in-smoke. Whereas we all know that any matter meeting any anti-matter (notwithstanding that 'all electrons and positrons are the same electron bouncing back and forth in time) will annihilate, and if the energies produced don't yet actively push the non-fingertip (or breath, or just space-suit glove on anti-spaceship airlock handle) counter-matters apart there's going to be more annihilation after the first fizzle. 162.158.158.171 10:59, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

Not just cartoons; see also the ST:TOS episode 'The Alternative Factor', 1967, which got the whole "antimatter", "individuals", "destroy the universe" stuff laughably, painfully wrong. BunsenH (talk) 15:14, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
Although it's not technically the same thing, I found myself reminded of the climax of the movie TimeCop while I was adding that to the explanation. I don't think 100% of the matter and antimatter in two opposite-matter people would annihilate when they touch, because the contact surface is indeed quite small, but clarifying that went further into the technical weeds than I wanted to go. When a nuclear weapon goes off, for instance, not all of the fuel is consumed, but that detail is usually overshadowed by the explosion. Captain Video (talk) 16:28, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

I am skeptical that any joke about "party conversation" is intended. BunsenH (talk) 15:14, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

It looks like Randall has been exposed to a variant of this myth where bloody mary murders the person saying her name. This would explain the preceding comic about bloody Mary too: the ghost could be leaping to murder the person wanting their name. It would be good to add to the article a reference to this interpretation of the myth if anybody is excited about it. 162.158.62.245 16:30, 26 September 2020 (UTC)