Fine Structure Constant - Sixty Symbols

Why is 137 a magic number, both for thieves and alien hunters? More symbols at http://www.sixtysymbols.com/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• fine
• structure
• constat
• sixty
• symbols

[onehundredand37]

i made my account after this number =)

[speeron]

almost as nerdy as 1337

[TheNikoado]

I don't know if you guys have seen this yet but I'm curious if there is any truth to it. A scientist by the name of Frank Znidarsic has apparently figured out why the fine structure constant has the value it does and he has been able to derive the constant from first principles.

w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MZ2md­SkWM

Now some of it is a bit over my head, so what do you guys make of it?

P.S. Don't dismiss the video by the title. Think about what he discusses and make up your own mind.

[Arghira]

he never said what the number means....

[tmafkap]

@TheAngryAmoeba Great, now I have 2π...

[RufftaMan]

@stardude692001 there is a rather simple explanation of the base 10 and the binary system on the golden record on both voyager spacecraft.

browsing trough it's content imagining being an alien completely unfamiliar with anything on our planet is pretty awesome =)

[TheAngryAmoeba]

"Here's H-bar. That's Planck's constant divided by 2pi." Or more simply, Planck's constant divided by tau. Since learning about tau, hearing "2pi" has made my lip curl.

[stardude692001]

you couldn't send 137 as numbers unless you first explain to then base 10 mathmatics. That or tap out 137 beeps.

[upisoft2]

@speeron Yeah, in nerd talk it means LET, like in "let there be light..". Proof that creationism is right and god is nerd for sure...

[dojokonojo]

I had to derive alpha on my homework just last week.

[MrJepcats]

@RasmusLastname It'd probably be conveyed through number of filled squares on a grid or something, rather than the actual symbols '1', '3' and '7'. Probably not that way exactly but you know what I mean.

[RasmusLastname]

Here's the issue when you're saying we should send them 137. Why would 137 imply a constant to them? There's probably absolutely no dice on that an alien civilization uses the same three symbols for the same three numbers. Maybe their "1" is "G" etc. So 137 would probably not mean anything to them. And they probably don't have * meaning multiplied by and / meaning divided by etc, so writing equations wouldn't be to much use anyway. But it's a nice through none the less. Educational video!