can you recommend in depth reading material on what would happen if the number were higher or lower?
"stable matter, and therefore life and intelligent beings, could not exist if its value were much different. For instance, were α to change by 4%, stellar fusion would not produce carbon, so that carbon-based life would be impossible. If α were greater than 0.1, stellar fusion would be impossible, and no place in the universe would be warm enough for life as we know it."
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant#Anthro...
If it were to change by 4% in which direction?
> If α were greater than 0.1
Considering it's .007 that's a ridiculously huge change.
And I can't access the source article.
So thanks for trying but that's not very helpful.
I know. But which direction? Higher, lower, or both? If it's 4% in both directions that's quite a coincidence.
And since we're talking about percentages of α, I will emphasize that going from .007 to .1 is a change of well over a thousand percent. That example is the exact opposite of the anthropic principle showing that we "could not exist if its value were much different"!
What did I say to deserve the downvotes?
Upvoted your downvoted comment.
> The constant is everywhere because it characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic force affecting charged particles such as electrons and protons
I might like to read more conjecture as to what would exist if it were 1/138
and so forth.