Sub-atomic sentient life?

[Parallel Universes]

The laws of physics change at the sub-atomic level and quantum mechanics is not very well understood from what I can gather. Would it therefore be plausible that sub-atomic chemistry could be sufficiently complex to develop into life or even sentient life? We keep discovering smaller and smaller particles. Maybe there is a Higgs Boson under my fingernail with tiny cities on its surface.

[Noclevername]

As far as is known, no. We keep discovering that as you get to smaller and smaller subatomic levels, you find simpler and more elemental particles. So there's basically no such thing as "sub-atomic chemistry".

[primummobile]

The laws of physics change at the sub-atomic level and quantum mechanics is not very well understood from what I can gather. Would it therefore be plausible that sub-atomic chemistry could be sufficiently complex to develop into life or even sentient life? We keep discovering smaller and smaller particles. Maybe there is a Higgs Boson under my fingernail with tiny cities on its surface.

Curious. What would the cities be made of?

[cjameshuff]

As far as is known, no. We keep discovering that as you get to smaller and smaller subatomic levels, you find simpler and more elemental particles. So there's basically no such thing as "sub-atomic chemistry".

Nuclear chemistry might substitute for normal chemistry under extreme conditions like the crust of a neutron star...not really the same thing though, just nuclear forces becoming more relevant than electron shells due to the extreme pressures.

[R.A.F.]

I am reminded of this....

[KaiYeves]

Oooh yes, the Microverse!

[KhashayarShatti]

May be of relevance:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/...-in-space.html
Perhaps reconfiguration of atomic structure and new chemistry!

[ravens_cry]

If it is possible, I wonder what a sub-atomic creatures sense of time and space would be?
The laws of physics get a little weird on that small scale.

[primummobile]

If it is possible, I wonder what a sub-atomic creatures sense of time and space would be?
The laws of physics get a little weird on that small scale.

A little off point, but I remember reading a science fiction book about aliens living on the surface of a neutron star. They had the mass of humans, but were very small because of the intense gravity. (Although larger than they probably should have been) A day for them was equivalent to .2 seconds in our time. They developed hundreds of thousands of years in a couple days.

[ravens_cry]

A little off point, but I remember reading a science fiction book about aliens living on the surface of a neutron star. They had the mass of humans, but were very small because of the intense gravity. (Although larger than they probably should have been) A day for them was equivalent to .2 seconds in our time. They developed hundreds of thousands of years in a couple days.

Star Trek Voyager had a similar themed episode where time passed extremely fast for the inhabitants of the planet. It was an especial favourite because it involved a primitive (i.e. contemporary) technology spacecraft.

[primummobile]

Star Trek Voyager had a similar themed episode where time passed extremely fast for the inhabitants of the planet. It was an especial favourite because it involved a primitive (i.e. contemporary) technology spacecraft.

I hadn't seen that one, so I looked it up yesterday and watched it. It was pretty good. It was just a little annoying that the conversion factor between our time and theirs wasn't applied consistently.

[Grey]

A little off point, but I remember reading a science fiction book about aliens living on the surface of a neutron star. They had the mass of humans, but were very small because of the intense gravity. (Although larger than they probably should have been) A day for them was equivalent to .2 seconds in our time. They developed hundreds of thousands of years in a couple days.

Robert Forward's Dragon's Egg, which he described as "a textbook on neutron star physics disguised as a novel". Since Forward was a physicist, all the details are at least plausible and pretty well grounded in known physics. It's a great book.

[primummobile]

Robert Forward's Dragon's Egg, which he described as "a textbook on neutron star physics disguised as a novel". Since Forward was a physicist, all the details are at least plausible and pretty well grounded in known physics. It's a great book.

Yeah, that's it. Thanks. Actually I think I have it somewhere in this mess of books....

[eburacum45]

One highly speculative idea that might allow fantastically small civilisations would be monopolium;
http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/proje...981/monpol.mss
a (probably) fictional form of matter consisting of different types of monopoles condensed into atoms. Even monopolium isn't small enough to allow entire civilisations on a single boson, though; a human made from monopolium would be a micron high, about the size of a bacterium.

[KhashayarShatti]

Currently, from a scientific point of view, no scientific cause is said to exist to define the main reason by which large structures( stars, planets, animals,......humans) have come into existence. However science attributes some of it to molecular structures. Perhaps subatomic sub-elements play the greatest contribution in the creation of molecular and also large structures. One day humans may develop the largest animated structure in the universe! Yes? In comparison they seem to be minute and highly sub element.

[Gomar]

I am reminded of the first MiB movie. At the end, the cat is wearing a necklace of a galaxy. Then, it is revealed that some alien child is playing with a toy within which is our own universe. Ifcourse, the alien's universe is itself within yet another toy. etc. infinitum...