Source: Topic: [[physics]] via:: [[physicists measure the magic fine structure constant]] Alias: Type: Created: 2020-12-05

A constant with no unit or dimension. Close to 1/137. Ratios in size in the universe tend to be in orders of magnitude of the fine structure constant.

Just small enough, and just big enough; small enough that the electromagentism is weak enough for electrons to hop from atom to atom and enabling chemical bonds, strong enough that stars are able to create carbon.

It's like in architecture, there's the [[golden ratio]], in the physics of low-energy matter – atoms, molecules, chemistry, biology – there's always a ratio of bigger things to smaller things. Those ratios tend to be powers of the fine-structure constant. – Eric Cornell

A magic number that comes to us with no understanding – [[Richard Feynman]]

[[q.the fine-structure constant – a pure number that shapes the universe to an astonishing degree]]

The most fundamental unsolved problem in physics – [[Paul Dirac]]