Physics - Inconstant Constants

[Dover]

Constant Inconstants:

Inconstant Constants
Do the inner workings of nature change with time?
By John D. Barrow and John K. Webb


HOW UNIMAGINABLY strange the world would be if the constants of nature had different values. The so-called fine-structure constant (), for example, is about 1/137. Were it another value, matter and energy would interact in bizarre ways; indeed, the very distinction between matter and energy could melt away.


Some things never change. Physicists call them the constants of nature. Such quantities as the velocity of light, c, Newton's constant of gravitation, G, and the mass of the electron, me, are assumed to be the same at all places and times in the universe. They form the scaffolding around which the theories of physics are erected, and they define the fabric of our universe. Physics has progressed by making ever more accurate measurements of their values.
And yet, remarkably, no one has ever successfully predicted or explained any of the constants. Physicists have no idea why they take the special numerical values that they do. In SI units, c is 299,792,458; G is 6.673 X 10-11; and me is 9.10938188 X 10-31--numbers that follow no discernible pattern. The only thread running through the values is that if many of them were even slightly different, complex atomic structures such as living beings would not be possible. The desire to explain the constants has been one of the driving forces behind efforts to develop a complete unified description of nature, or "theory of everything." Physicists have hoped that such a theory would show that each of the constants of nature could have only one logically possible value. It would reveal an underlying order to the seeming arbitrariness of nature...cont'd

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=0005BFE6-2965-128A-A96583414B7F0000

[IChing]

1. Fibonacci Numbers, Pascals Triangle (golden mean) and

Pythagoras' Theorem


Have touched upon the constants of nature and Pi,
but not to this degree.
Interesting article which I must read more deeply.

[Celebration]

3. The More Things Change

The More they Stay the Same

http://www.astridfitzgerald.com/goldenmean.htm

[trotsky]

2. "numbers that follow no discernible pattern"

Well, why should they? Numbering and measuring systems are entirely arbitrary things, created by intelligent minds to try and understand quantities. The universe is not bound by our constructs or required to churn out nice even numbers in our system.

I mean, if we had a system where 299,792,458 meters were a special unit called a gwalp, well whaddya know, the speed of light would be a nice even 1 gwalp per second!

It just makes things all the more interesting.

[aeolian]

4. We do have such a system of units...they're called "natural units"

And the potential "pattern" to which the authors were refering is one of clear interrelationships between the fundamental "constants," not just nice whole numbers. Currently, we know THAT the constants are what they are, but not WHY. They are inputs into our equations, not solutions.

[Zorbuddha]

5. The Fibonacci series, Golden Mean, etc

are hardly "arbitrary things" or contrivances of intelligent minds. They respresent an insight into the fundamental framework and nature of being.

Numbers, mathematics and meaningful ratios exist aside from intelligent, or unintelligent, minds.

[Salviati]

6. Certainly the scientists who think about such things know this..

even if the reporters who write the stories fail to completely understand. The "fine structure constant", alpha, that they mention as being approximately 1/137 is one answer to this problem. It is a way of combining several fundimental 'constants', namely the charge on the electron, planck's constant, and the speed of light, in such a way to produce a dimentionless, or unitless number. alpha = e^2/(2hc) is equal to ~1/137 no matter what units you use to measure any of the physical quantities.

In fact, lots of people in physics, far from using the metric system, use a system of units called "natural units" where all the physical constants that can be are set equal to 1.

[benburch]

7. The Weak-form Anthropic Principle explains this well.

In all of the universes where these constants are not in a configuration that allows life as we know it, nobody would exist to remark upon the coincidence...