Are electrons intelligent? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 02:06:39 am
content: I've just finished designing and building a fairly simple low pass filter. It got me pondering this somewhat pointless question:How does an electronic know what frequency it is?

author: shteii01
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 02:19:35 am
content: magic.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 02:52:02 am
content: QuoteThey are.They canalwaysfind the path of least resistance.

author: hamster_nz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 03:05:09 am
content: The same power that allows light to almost always travel in straight lines - the power of physics!But a more sensible answer...It doesn't know. It is just the observable effect of the laws governing the system - like how planets don't know how long they take to go around the sun.

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 03:15:17 am
content: Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on May 05, 2018, 02:06:39 amBecause it's a wave ... I mean it's a particle ...

author: geekGee
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 03:32:21 am
content: Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on May 05, 2018, 02:06:39 amIt was told by a "higher power".

author: Marco
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 03:36:35 am
content: Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on May 05, 2018, 02:06:39 amRather than answer the question I'm going to try to address the misconception which leads to it using my limited physics knowledge.The frequency domain approach is an abstraction which works because the system is linear and thus allow you to use superposition in the math, time domain however is the more fundamental. All the other electrons around a given electron are experiencing nearly the same force, there are no high frequency and low frequency electrons.

author: hamster_nz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 03:44:21 am
content: Similar question.... How do swings in the park know how fast to swing?If you can answer that you pretty much have the answer to your 'electron frequency' question.

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 03:54:24 am
content: Remember school physics?Protons, neutrons and electrons...The laws of attraction...Somewhere in between all those . . . ‘s is the answer!

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 04:11:37 am
content: Quote from: SL4P on May 05, 2018, 03:54:24 amYep.QuoteTo the fairer sex.QuoteNone of those, only hormones and pheromones !And then intelligent and predicable behavior went out the window.

author: Gregg
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 05:12:13 am
content: +1 for Marco’s answer.It is similar to water molecules in the ocean not having control or sense of where they are located in a wave that was started by external forces far away and can only be modified by other forces acting on the mass of water being controlled, again by outside forces but adhering to the basic properties of water. (I hope that makes sense)

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 05:52:13 am
content: "How does an electronic know what frequency it is?"It doesn't.Doesn't even know where it is in a single atom's electron shell.It's all statistical drift of probabilistic particle-waves, within E fields created by slight imbalances in charge ratios.

author: BravoV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 05:55:50 am
content: I thought they're not only intelligent, but smart and cunning as the know whats in the past and future ...

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 06:38:25 am
content: Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on May 05, 2018, 02:06:39 amAnd true to the honesty of the question, we get some pointless answers - but at least they were entertaining.

author: GerryBags
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 08:38:56 am
content: A single electron can't have a frequency. It's like busses on a city route. Each individual bus does it's trip, but you can only talk about how frequent the busses are when there is more than one or you see the same one multiple times over a short route. With electrons there is even less individuality because we don't talk about single electrons but simply say that when a large group of electrons passes by that is a negative peak, and a gap when no electrons go by is a positive peak. The frequency is the rate at which the groups and gaps pass.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 08:44:19 am
content: The same way, as people slow down when they see a speed limit sign. While we all know that the average driver isn't intelligent.

author: rob.manderson
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 04:00:23 pm
content: Quote from: NANDBlog on May 05, 2018, 08:44:19 amYou've obviously never driven in Arizona. Here the speed limit is treated as a lower limit!

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2018, 05:11:05 pm
content: As electrons seem to act differently depending on how you look at them, they must be quite intelligent to know that they're being watched.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2018, 12:46:31 am
content: QuoteYes as they contain intelligent life - no because electrons are only the container. Like earth and humans.Considering they are mid way size wise. They are half way between infinite small and infinite large.

author: medical-nerd
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2018, 06:12:16 pm
content: HiyaThere was a short comic strip in 2000AD - a {UK comic} many years ago about a sentient hydrogen atom that fell in love with another and was about to be joined to form a molecule when the partner atom was torn away by the earth forming 4 billion years ago. Distraught, the atom then guided evolution until the world was destroyed.It did and still does make me think about such things.Cheers

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2018, 06:45:49 pm
content: Quote from: Marco on May 05, 2018, 03:36:35 amWell, if we actually take even more physics to the equation.There is a possibility that non of this works.That possibility is only EXTREMELY small

author: Vtile
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2018, 07:17:58 pm
content: It doesn't, but the particles in the media it is (its wave) propagating is lazy, some are more than another.PS. Electronics are just as intelligent as their designer.

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2018, 05:57:14 pm
content: As someone who has regularly worked with sensitive measurements and high voltage, I do know that electrons are escape artists - that does denote some intelligence.

author: JohnnyMalaria
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2018, 02:48:44 pm
content: Quote from: GerryBags on May 05, 2018, 08:38:56 amThe thing with buses is that they are invariably late and arrive in threes. Is this analogous to group delay?

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2018, 03:52:08 pm
content: Quote from: JohnnyMalaria on May 05, 2018, 02:06:39 amIt checks the speedometer. E=hf