/u/SurprisedPotato's posts in /r/askscience

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When we say "the electromagnetic interaction is mediated by photons", what's actually happening in terms of the wave function/Schroedinger's equation?

1059 upvotes

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When an electron and positron annihilate, they give off two gamma rays - is it always exactly two? Might it be more?

801 upvotes

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Why are green and red laser pointers so cheap and available, but yellow ones not so much?

249 upvotes

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When my garden soil is too alkaline, I'm told to add sulphur or other somewhat noxious chemicals. Why can't I just pour a bottle of vinegar into the garden bed?

211 upvotes

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Can someone explain to me what it means if protons have intrinsic charm, as is suggested by a recent article in Nature? Does it mean they are actually five-quark particles, or something else?

204 upvotes

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Could there possibly be black holes that formed from collapsing dark matter?

60 upvotes

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Why is it believed black holes preserve mass, charge and angular momentum, but not baryon number, weak isospin and lepton number?

50 upvotes

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Is there some fundamental reason why there are three generations of quarks and leptons, instead of (say) 2 or 4 or 13 or an unlimited number?

32 upvotes

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What is the curvature of empty space?

12 upvotes

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Why is the singlet-state gluon not allowed, instead of just being a non-strong-interacting particle?

9 upvotes

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
When we say "the electromagnetic interaction is mediated by photons", what's actually happening in terms of the wave function/Schroedinger's equation?	1059
When an electron and positron annihilate, they give off two gamma rays - is it always exactly two? Might it be more?	801
Why are green and red laser pointers so cheap and available, but yellow ones not so much?	249
When my garden soil is too alkaline, I'm told to add sulphur or other somewhat noxious chemicals. Why can't I just pour a bottle of vinegar into the garden bed?	211
Can someone explain to me what it means if protons have intrinsic charm, as is suggested by a recent article in Nature? Does it mean they are actually five-quark particles, or something else?	204
Could there possibly be black holes that formed from collapsing dark matter?	60
Why is it believed black holes preserve mass, charge and angular momentum, but not baryon number, weak isospin and lepton number?	50
Is there some fundamental reason why there are three generations of quarks and leptons, instead of (say) 2 or 4 or 13 or an unlimited number?	32
What is the curvature of empty space?	12
Why is the singlet-state gluon not allowed, instead of just being a non-strong-interacting particle?	9