I would accept the position ‘this question is not well-defined’. However, I don’t think I accept the position ‘actually an electron is bigger once we define things this way’.
(For one thing, I think that definition may imply that an electron is bigger than me?)
Also, I think this overall argument is a nitpick that is not particularly relevant to Scott’s article, unless you think that a large percentage of the respondents to that survey were quantum physicists.
(For one thing, I think that definition may imply that an electron is bigger than me?)
An electron’s wavefunction is actually more spread out than yours is (if we could do a quantum measurement on the position of your center of mass—which we can’t because it’s too hard to isolate you from the environment—it would be very precise).
But because you’re a macroscopic object, how big you are isn’t determined by your center of mass wavefunction, but by the distance between the different atoms comprising you. So you’re bigger than a standard electron.
For a hydrogen atom at room temperature, the size of the electron orbital and the size due to a spread-out wavefunction are actually about the same. So for interactions involving hydrogen atoms, the wavefunction size is really important.
I would accept the position ‘this question is not well-defined’. However, I don’t think I accept the position ‘actually an electron is bigger once we define things this way’.
(For one thing, I think that definition may imply that an electron is bigger than me?)
Also, I think this overall argument is a nitpick that is not particularly relevant to Scott’s article, unless you think that a large percentage of the respondents to that survey were quantum physicists.
An electron’s wavefunction is actually more spread out than yours is (if we could do a quantum measurement on the position of your center of mass—which we can’t because it’s too hard to isolate you from the environment—it would be very precise).
But because you’re a macroscopic object, how big you are isn’t determined by your center of mass wavefunction, but by the distance between the different atoms comprising you. So you’re bigger than a standard electron.
For a hydrogen atom at room temperature, the size of the electron orbital and the size due to a spread-out wavefunction are actually about the same. So for interactions involving hydrogen atoms, the wavefunction size is really important.