My daughter asked "What are thoughts?"

[ambush80]

As we were driving, my 14 year old daughter asked "If everything is atoms, how do we have thoughts?". Knowing I had about 10 seconds of her attention, I thought to carefully construct an explanation. I came up with "The atoms in our brain are arranged a bit like grooves in a record". That was the start of a 30 minute conversation on matter, energy, the brain, consciousness, and the soul. I'm so exited that she seems intellectually curious.

 

[ambush80]

She also surmised that it was in the realm of possibilities for our atoms, say in our hand, to get entangled and mixed with another object, say a desk. She thought that there was a chance that the "spaces" between atoms could line up just right for a split second and that one's hand could pass through another object. I took the opportunity to explain to her that the reason that our hand doesn't pass through other objects is that the charges of the atoms in our hand repel the the other object. I also tried to explain that the electrons aren't really like little balls, but more like a cloud. I used the word "potentiality" and lost her.

 

[oldfella1962]

As we were driving, my 14 year old daughter asked "If everything is atoms, how do we have thoughts?". Knowing I had about 10 seconds of her attention, I thought to carefully construct an explanation. I came up with "The atoms in our brain are arranged a bit like grooves in a record". That was the start of a 30 minute conversation on matter, energy, the brain, consciousness, and the soul. I'm so exited that she seems intellectually curious.

She's not alone! I have read the theory on how memory is stored, and I could probably recite it back to you, but I can't really wrap my mind around it! I'm not talking about just our brains, but computers too.

 

[oldfella1962]

She also surmised that it was in the realm of possibilities for our atoms, say in our hand, to get entangled and mixed with another object, say a desk. She thought that there was a chance that the "spaces" between atoms could line up just right for a split second and that one's hand could pass through another object. I took the opportunity to explain to her that the reason that our hand doesn't pass through other objects is that the charges of the atoms in our hand repel the the other object. I also tried to explain that the electrons aren't really like little balls, but more like a cloud. I used the word "potentiality" and lost her.

I had to learn & teach about atoms when I was an electronics instructor.
Atoms are sort of like a tiny solar system. The nucleus is like the sun, and the electrons would be the planets in orbit, but of course orbiting incredibly fast.

As for our atoms repelling other atoms (thus our hand can't pass through the desk) it is cool to think about waves (AM & FM radio waves for example) of all types zipping through the atoms of our bodies with no problem. There is a lot of real estate inside an atom! The distance from the nucleus to the electrons is comparable to a sun and its orbiting planets, just scaled down in size.

 

[ambush80]

I had to learn & teach about atoms when I was an electronics instructor.
Atoms are sort of like a tiny solar system. The nucleus is like the sun, and the electrons would be the planets in orbit, but of course orbiting incredibly fast.

As for our atoms repelling other atoms (thus our hand can't pass through the desk) it is cool to think about waves (AM & FM radio waves for example) of all types zipping through the atoms of our bodies with no problem. There is a lot of real estate inside an atom! The distance from the nucleus to the electrons is comparable to a sun and its orbiting planets, just scaled down in size.

I had to tell her that electrons aren't really like little balls but more like gooey, oozing honey, and that we can't see them, only tell where they were or where they might be in the future. I tried to tell her that by trying to observe them, we make them change their position. I wasn't about to try to explaining entanglement to her because I don't understand it either . She didn't believe me when I said that all the matter in the universe could be smashed into the space of a golfball.

 

[WaltL1]

I feel sorry for the boys who will try to date your daughter. They are going to try and impress her with stories of football and keg parties and she's going to be thinking about matter, energy and atoms

 

[oldfella1962]

I had to tell her that electrons aren't really like little balls but more like gooey, oozing honey, and that we can't see them, only tell where they were or where they might be in the future. I tried to tell her that by trying to observe them, we make them change their position. I wasn't about to try to explaining entanglement to her because I don't understand it either . She didn't believe me when I said that all the matter in the universe could be smashed into the space of a golfball.

Bear in mind that golf ball will not go far when you hit it, whether it has dimples in it or not.

 

[ambush80]

I feel sorry for the boys who will try to date your daughter. They are going to try and impress her with stories of football and keg parties and she's going to be thinking about matter, energy and atoms

You never know, but I don't think she'll be impressed with some dummy. They better be able to slaughter and process farm animals and they better know how to fish, because she does.

 

[ambush80]

Bear in mind that golf ball will not go far when you hit it, whether it has dimples in it or not.

Gotta have enough club.

 

[oldfella1962]

Gotta have enough club.

I would hate to see the size of that club! It would have to be truly "of Biblical proportions" I think!

 

[ambush80]

I would hate to see the size of that club! It would have to be truly "of Biblical proportions" I think!

Can God make a golf club so heavy that He can't swing it?

(That one never gets old )

 

[oldfella1962]

Can God make a golf club so heavy that He can't swing it?

(That one never gets old )

I was going to make a similar joke, but there have been some upset & offended folks in this subforum within the last 24 hours or so, thus I didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

 

[ambush80]

I was going to make a similar joke, but there have been some upset & offended folks in this subforum within the last 24 hours or so, thus I didn't want to add fuel to the fire.

You have to make a bunch of caveats and speak in generalities.

 

[oldfella1962]

You have to make a bunch of caveats and speak in generalities.

Thanks - duly noted!