Re:Pi explained
by ars on Friday June 17, 2011 @07:15PM
(#2667449)
Actually, no they can't. At a quantum level things do not have definitive sizes. They have sort of "clouds", where the center of the cloud is more likely to be their size, and the edges are less likely - but still possible.
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So a string of 24 carbon atoms is not 2 dozen carbon atoms long? Unit=dozen carbon atoms, length=2?
No. A carbon atom does not have a fixed size.
And especially when you attach atoms together the spacing between them varies depending on the strength and type of the bond.
Additionally, molecules are constantly in motion (heat) - one of the motions is changing the size of the spacing between them.
But even if you froze it to absolute zero (which is impossible), it doesn't matter, the size is not determinate, it's only probabilistic.
So a real physical object can never have a fixed size.