Euler's Sieve

[xilman]

Originally Posted by Orgasmic Troll

how?

Think about it some more.

One answer is:to store the integer N, put the electron in an orbital with principal quantum number N

Paul

[CRGreathouse]

Not good enough, Paul. A countably infinite number of bits can hold a real number in [0,1] (and hence any real number); a single integer has much less information.

[Orgasmic Troll]

Originally Posted by xilman

Think about it some more.

One answer is:to store the integer N, put the electron in an orbital with principal quantum number N

Paul

That wasn't an incredulous how, that was a curious how. I don't know enough particulars about physics to know what a principal quantum number is

Originally Posted by CRGreathouse

Not good enough, Paul. A countably infinite number of bits can hold a real number in [0,1] (and hence any real number); a single integer has much less information.

um. No.

[0,1] is uncountable.

[CRGreathouse]

Originally Posted by Orgasmic Troll

[0,1] is uncountable.

Yes, and so is the information you can hold in a countably infinite number of bits.

[Orgasmic Troll]

Originally Posted by CRGreathouse

Yes, and so is the information you can hold in a countably infinite number of bits.

oh right, my bad. I read it too quickly.

[m_f_h]

Originally Posted by xilman

Further, a single hydrogen atom may store that number of bits.

Originally Posted by Orgasmic Troll

how?

Originally Posted by xilman

Think about it some more.
One answer is:to store the integer N, put the electron in an orbital with principal quantum number N

How?

(This is an incredulous "how" -
Do you claim that this is possible?? (even, "theoretically" ?)
It is not, definitely! There are several irrefutable obstacles that make it provably absolutely impossible for an arbitrary N, to put "the electron" [as a side note: does this exist, "the electron"?] in an "orbital" (*sic*) with a precisely given quantum number N, beyond some (ridiculously low) limit.
And here, I don't mean missing "technology", I mean fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.
No, you can not store any integer N in that way!)

[xilman]

Originally Posted by m_f_h

How?

(This is an incredulous "how" -
Do you claim that this is possible?? (even, "theoretically" ?)
It is not, definitely! There are several irrefutable obstacles that make it provably absolutely impossible for an arbitrary N, to put "the electron" [as a side note: does this exist, "the electron"?] in an "orbital" (*sic*) with a precisely given quantum number N, beyond some (ridiculously low) limit.
And here, I don't mean missing "technology", I mean fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.
No, you can not store any integer N in that way!)

Please explain further.

And while preparing your reply, I suggest that you research the word "orbital".


Paul