this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

"Wish granted. Electrons, being a human construct, have now always been defined slightly differently. Just as Franklin got the polarity wrong and you still use his labeling system, J.J. Thompson will now have fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the electron, leading to a cascading assumption by later scientists that the number of electrons in a neutral atom is one greater than the number of protons. Even though this completely breaks the math of quantum mechanics, everyone is just used to subtracting one at this point. This is a minutely worse world, but as a bonus, every physicist who sees you will now be preternaturally certain that you are personally to blame. You're welcome."

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Can someone ELI5 what would happen?

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 6 points 56 minutes ago (1 children)

You know how when you put magnet faces together with the same polarity, they push against each other. If you squeeze them together they will pop away. When an atom has an extra electron, it makes its charge more negative. If all of the atoms have extra electrons, all of their charges will be more negative. Now imagine every single atom in the universe was suddenly the same polarity and began pushing all other atoms away. I'll let your imagination take over from there.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 1 points 12 minutes ago (1 children)

I'm sorry but applying negativity or positivity to atoms and electrons is classic anthropomorphism.

Does anyone have a real explanation?

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 2 points 9 minutes ago

Hey those fucking atom bastards are nothing but negativity. They know what they did.

[–] megopie@beehaw.org 2 points 1 hour ago

Everything would get slightly heavier. Then a lot of compounds would break and a lot of new compounds would form.

Also a lot of lightning.

[–] MarriedCavelady50@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 hours ago

Barbaric.

Just make ionic bonds a little stickier for a minute.

[–] Engywuck@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] HowAbt2day@futurology.today 1 points 1 hour ago

I am also Pro-Ton.

[–] RiceMunk@sopuli.xyz 29 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Genie is being lazy and interprets that as: Add one electron to the universe, and attach it to any of the atoms available.

[–] Tja@programming.dev 17 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

That's not Interpretation, that a whole different thing.

[–] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 4 hours ago

Add one extra melectron to all the atoms in the universe -- adds one electron to all the atoms bit not one each for each atom

[–] Midnitte@beehaw.org 8 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Genie interprets as "every atom now shares this one extra electron"

[–] icelimit@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 hours ago

Suddenly quantum entanglement

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 71 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

Former situation: there is one electron

New situation: there are two electrons

[–] ignotum@lemmy.world 24 points 6 hours ago

This is getting out of hand, now there are two of them!

[–] victorz@lemmy.world 8 points 7 hours ago

That was a great read. TIL. ✨

[–] Rokin@leminal.space 4 points 6 hours ago

I love this theory.

[–] Evilsandwichman@hexbear.net 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Or make every living thing deeply aware of each of their atoms at all times

[–] glibg10b@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

That's impossible. You'd need at least one neuron per atom, but each neuron has many atoms of its own

[–] Flyberius@hexbear.net 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 48 points 9 hours ago
[–] cybervseas@lemmy.world 21 points 9 hours ago

You’re always so negative …

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 6 hours ago

or add more antimatter(3% more) at the beginning of the universe

Diabolical…..

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)
[–] LyingCake@feddit.org 13 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

This 'article' reads like someone asked ChatGTP this exact question. In other words: it reads like shit. Please never share again.

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 0 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

I seached the answer online to better understand the meme, and that's one of the first results.

Sorry if that's AI generated. I didn't search for AI generated answer, and didn't ask ChatGPT, this is sadly what seach results looks like nowadays.

Will gladly edit the top comment if you can suggest a better article.