Two physics questions.

[Kai]

I'm spending a lot of time with this thread on my mind.

I'm reading the wiki on gravitational waves, it's got a lot to chew on.

Its bizarre, isn't it. QM + EM was my favourite subject last year but its really tough and quite humbling really.

I'm sure that me being a biologist and striding into the field of elementary physics is much like the inverse. Some things are really well defined (newtonian gravitation and DNA/RNA synthesis), others are extremely complex and unintuitive (quantum mechanics and protein folding).

[Doktor Howl]

1. Quarks, for now, seem to be elemental.  They aren't made of anything, they simply are.  Kind of like how we thought atoms were elelmental, before we found out they had parts.  For now, they "are" the building blocks.

2. Short answer: dunno.  Still trying to work that one out.


Longer answers available upon request.

So, are quarks solid, or are they probability fields, like photons?

Solid.

I keep a jar of them on my desk.  But they're really hard to see if you spill them.

Am I taking this too seriously?

No, I was just being an ass.   

[Kai]

1. Quarks, for now, seem to be elemental.  They aren't made of anything, they simply are.  Kind of like how we thought atoms were elelmental, before we found out they had parts.  For now, they "are" the building blocks.

2. Short answer: dunno.  Still trying to work that one out.


Longer answers available upon request.

So, are quarks solid, or are they probability fields, like photons?

Solid.

I keep a jar of them on my desk.  But they're really hard to see if you spill them.

Am I taking this too seriously?

No, I was just being an ass.   

Fair enough.