John Klein wondered aloud to the group:
>entropy
>will eventually succeed in dissociating every fundamental particle in the
>universe from every other fundamental particle.
No, it won't, at least not under the Standard Model. First, you cannot
dissociate quarks at all. Second, virtually all nuclear fission events
>from about nickel on down to helium require energy input, often extremely
substantial input; in a universe near thermal equilibrium, that energy is
not available, so you're still going to have most iron nuclei hanging
about. Third, un-ionized atoms are still going to be relatively common, in
a ratio to free protons and electrons that depends on the temperature and
particle density of the thermalized universe.
BSM theories that include proton decay can change that outlook, but given
that the experimental lower limit on proton lifetime is 10^33 years, you're
looking at a few umptyfantasticajillion years to reduce the universe to a
uniform sea of low-energy photons and neutrinos.
I'm just saying.
--
"I listen to the police band on my CB radio. Once I dialed 911 and
dedicated a crime to my girlfriend."--Steve Connelly
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