Sorensen Sez… Numbers
Doc Gene Patronis sort of peripherally introduced us to some really big numbers in his last piece…like Avogadro’s Number…6.02 x 1023.
I like numbers that have exponents because they sound so scientific and real science guys just sort of flip them out with a grace and ease that’s truly enviable.
One of the nifty things about scientific-notation, which is what the “big number” stuff is called, is that it lets us discuss the complex concepts that Doc was trying to present in a way that’s swallowable. Otherwise it’d be like trying to write out a symphony in narrative rather than using musical notes. You’d be buying Beethoven by the pound.
Dr. Paul Dirac, one of the leading thinkers in cosmology and quantum theory of last century was also known for being a very slow talker. In fact some of his students came up with Dirac’s Number which is 1.00 phrases per fortnight. Actually Dirac’s Number is 1.0018 which was later refined to be 1.00159 by researchers like Feynman and others. It’s nice to know that when one speaks slowly, one is doing so with great precision. (I think I remember my Dad telling me something like that.)
Actually Dirac’s number has to do with the magnetic moment of the electron which is a subject that’s very hard to introduce into everyday conversation.
Dirac also had another number describing the ratio of size and force named for him which is 1040 or 10-40 depending upon which end of the universe you’re looking from. That means that if you’re discussing the magnetic moment of an electron with someone you use the first Dirac Number but if you’re discussing the relationship between the speed of light and the size of the universe, you use the second Dirac Number, facing toward the person or away depending upon which exponential value you wish to use. Easy, no?
I have always favored relating things to dogs. My late pet, Amanda Wayne, a very nice, very old lady Black- Golden Labretrievador was about 18 of our years old when she went to the Great Dog Park which set her odometer at 133 dog-years…a ripe old age. Gee. That makes me over 420 dog-years old! I’m not sure I like working in “Dog” — of course, I might think differently if I could just figure out how to get paid in Dog….