An actual photo of an atom. Really. I kid you not. (Would I lie?)
Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Returning to\u00a0Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes,\u00a0A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos<\/em>\u00a0(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016):<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[T]he up and down quarks are 4.5 and 9.4 times heavier than the electron. \u00a0These aren\u2019t nice, neat numbers. \u00a0And yet, they are fundamental to the Standard Model of particle physics. \u00a0Frustratingly, we can measure them, but we can\u2019t explain them in terms of anything else.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThe other paraphernalia of the Standard Model aren\u2019t any better. \u00a0The other four quarks are 190, 2495, 8180 and 338,960 times heavier than the electron, while the muon and tau are 206.768284 and 3477.15 times heavier.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIs there anything special about the particular values they have? \u00a0What happens in a universe in which the electron and quark masses are slightly different?<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cOne might think that, since life is so hardy and robust, you\u2019d just get a different form of life. \u00a0It might not look like us, but since life in our Universe can make use of the hodge-podge of chemical reactions on offer, any old universe would do something. \u00a0Right?<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cIn fact, it is rather easy to arrange for a universe to have no chemistry at all. . . . \u201d \u00a0(47-48)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In what they call the \u201cDelta-Plus-Plus Universe,\u201d for instance, Lewis and Barnes increase the mass of the down quark by a factor of about 70, resulting in a universe where something \u201chelium-like\u201d would be the only element. \u00a0\u201cThe online PubChem database in our Universe lists 60,770,909 chemical compounds (and counting); in the [Delta-Plus-Plus] universe it would list just one<\/em>. \u00a0And being like helium, it would undergo zero chemical reactions.\u201d \u00a0(50)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hence, no life.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But how about a \u201cDelta-Minus Universe\u201d?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeginning with our Universe again, let\u2019s instead increase the mass of the up quark by a factor of 130. \u00a0Again, the proton and neutron will be replaced by one kind of stable particle made of three down quarks, known as the [Delta-Minus]. \u00a0Within this\u00a0[Delta-Minus] universe, with no neutrons to help dilute the repulsive force of their negative charge, there again will be just one type of atom, and, in a dramatic improvement on the [Delta-Plus-Plus] universe, one chemical reaction! \u00a0Two [Delta-Minus] particles can form a molecule, assuming that we replace all electrons with their positively charged alter-ego, the positron.\u201d \u00a0(50)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, again, no life. \u00a0But what would happen with a \u201cHydrogen Universe\u201d?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo create a hydrogen-only universe, we increase the mass of the down quark by at least a factor of 3. \u00a0Here, no neutron is safe. \u00a0Even inside nuclei, neutrons decay. \u00a0Once again, kiss your chemistry textbook goodbye, as we\u2019d be left with one type of atom and one chemical reaction.\u201d \u00a0(50-51)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Which means . . . \u00a0no life.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Returning to\u00a0Geraint F. Lewis and Luke A. Barnes,\u00a0A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos\u00a0(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016): \u00a0 \u201c[T]he up and down quarks are 4.5 and 9.4 times heavier than the electron. \u00a0These aren\u2019t nice, neat numbers. \u00a0And yet, they are fundamental to the Standard Model of particle physics. \u00a0Frustratingly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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