[sdiy] Is everything digital?

[Bob Weigel]

Heheh.  Yeah it's just that..the charge on an individual electron is 1.6 
x 10^-19 coulumb....which so SO small...and while if you are talking 
about two metal sphere's electrostatic charge..well yeah...you add 
another electron and the charge bumps up a 'digit', neglecing the 
interspacing effect which is extremely negligable of course in this 
instance..but still..so is what you are saying so I thought you should 
know about it :-).  (ie. electrons repel each other.  Hence as you add 
one more charge to the sphere, I can create a change in the orientation 
of the electrons nearby THUS altering the orientation map for the 
lattice involved THUS changing the distances to the other sphere which 
will change their electrostatic interaction; lessening the per charge 
average effect in relation to the other sphere!) . 
    However in practical analog electronic circuits, there is a 
distribution of the charge that is much more complex than this and it 
DOES create an even more smooth continuum than you describe.  When 
actual currents are flowing, there is a 'voltage gradient' and all this 
interplay coupled with the vast number of charges involved does create 
something that goes far beyond your description.
      The reason we believe "all electrons are created =" is something 
called "Milikan's experiment".  The chap used oil drops in an 
electrostatic field and observed deflections as they moved.  The drops 
would tend to have an..almost neutral charge..but would usually have an 
electron or several out of balance. Many many other experiments have 
followed which have confirmed the basic findings there.  Separating 
pieces of nuclear material (radiation) and doing experiments on them and 
so on. There is a strong precidence to believe that there is a 
fundamental unit of charge as described above.  Here is a great page for 
particle physics stuff.
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/topics/Particles.html

Eric also has a great star trek summary section on his 'other sites'. 
:-) -Bob
 -Bob

Glen wrote:

>I know that lots of the elder engineers like to remind the young digital
>whipersnappers that "it's all analog", just to see that puzzled look on
>their faces.  :)
>
>On a certain level, the elder engineers are totally correct, and it's not
>my point to argue that.
>
>However, if voltage is caused by an imbalance of electrons between two
>physical locations, and if electrons are discrete units which can be
>counted, then wouldn't it be reasonable to say there should be a discrete
>number of steps between let's say 1 volt and 2 volts? To go from 1 volt, to
>2 volts, aren't we simply increasing the imbalance of electrons by a
>certain discrete number of electrons? If so, then there are only so many
>different unique voltage levels between 1 and 2 volts. This would make
>voltage purely a digital property.
>
>This brings another disturbing concept:  Can we have things such as a 1/3
>electron? What about a 3.1416.... electron? Aren't they all the same, as
>far as our human minds have been able to differentiate? Can we know for
>certain that "all electrons are created equal"?
>
>
>take care,
>Glen
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