Talk:2709: Solar System Model

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 08:36, 11 December 2022 by 172.69.33.232 (talk) (Explanation)
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Like the Quantum Moon from Outer Wilds. DanielLC (talk) 06:30, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

The lead sentence needs correcting: ELECTRONS orbit the nucleus, not ATOMS orbit the nucleus (talk) 08:54, 10 December 2022 (UTC)172.70.210.49 08:56, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

Fixed. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 10:05) 09:10, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

Also, the electrons ORBIT, not REVOLVE. (talk) 09:01, 10 December 2022 (UTC)172.70.210.49 09:01, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

You can fix that yourself? click the edit button and replace it. That's... the whole point of wikis i'm pretty sure. 162.158.79.83 14:36, 10 December 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
Yes, That is what I was trying to do but was locked out. Leaving a message was the next best thing.172.69.33.232 08:36, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

When I first read the comic, I was confused about Randall (Ms. Lenhart) describing quantum orbitals correctly. See, I knew the real history of science, so my brain autocorrected it to read that we used to think electrons had elliptical orbits. I had to look three times before I even saw the inversion. Nitpicking (talk) 16:28, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

Someone should add something about Lyapunov time, and how orbits are unpredictable on longer timescales.162.158.146.175 16:59, 10 December 2022 (UTC)


(talk) 3:42, 10 December 11 (UTC) Someone PLEASE explain this to me like I'm five? The explanation confused me :(

In the early 20th century atoms was in some respects believed to behave similar to solar systems, in that electrons orbited around the core of the atom like planets orbit around their sun. Nowadays, it has been discovered that electrons do not orbit around the core of the atom in such a manner; rather, the position of electrons are described with a more complicated model involving so called orbitals and probabilities. However, planets are still considered to orbit around their sun. The joke in this comic is that it claims the opposite: that atoms are still imagined with electrons in simple orbits, while planets have turned out to move according to the more complicated model with orbitals and probabilities. If this is amusing, it is probably because it is an absurd thought that something as big as planets would move in such an unintuitive way, which can not be described with classical mechanics. It may also be amusing that the history writing in the comic is very similar but opposite to the accepted one.
While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 10:05) 05:29, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

It's not space weather which makes position of planets hard to predict. It's the fact that while we have exact equations for two bodies, Three-body problem has no closed-form solution and leads to chaotic behaviour ... and there is little more than three bodies in our solar system. Also note that it gets even more complicated when you add theory of relativity into the mix. -- Hkmaly (talk) 07:42, 11 December 2022 (UTC)