• Question: How would you describe atoms to an alien species ?

    Asked by AshNazgDurbatulûk to Philip on 16 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Philip Moriarty

      Philip Moriarty answered on 16 Mar 2015:


      Oh, what a brilliant question. I’m going to steal my answer from Richard Fenyman. Feynman considered the following scenario.

      Imagine there’s an apocalypse and all life is wiped out on the planet. What sentence would you leave to the next life-form to appear, which would contain the most scientific information? Feynman’s answer was the following:

      “All matter is made of atoms, tiny particles which attract when they are a small distance apart but repel when they get closer”.

      I think that Feynman’s answer is a pretty good way of describing atoms to an alien species as well!

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