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tojicide · 3 months ago

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chapter 2 ── too easy, this game.

the spider’s sense: a spidercaleb series.

♥︎ spider-man!caleb x fem!reader

synopsis. ┆ caleb’s life was perfect—until it wasn’t. a radioactive spider bite turned him into linkon’s friendly neighborhood spider-man, the daily bugle started hunting for the man behind the mask, and to top it all off, he was forced to partner up with you—his smart, competitive, and infuriatingly perfect classmate who threatened his spot as number one in the class rankings.

tags/warnings. ┆ college/modern au, academic rivals to lovers, fluff, angst, eventual smut, gran isn’t evil in this LOL, the canon event, college parties, alcohol consumption, cliches, depictions of serious crime, references to the spider-man comics and movies, mdni

chapter summary. ┆ after you’re forced to check up on caleb, you realize that your methods of revenge can be sweeter and much more interesting than you had originally anticipated.

prev: chapter one. ┆ series masterlist. ┆ next: chapter three.

“Remember that fundraiser I was telling you about?”

You lift your gaze from the sidewalk, giving Tara a sideways glance. “Yeah, I think so. What about it?”

“Well,” she sings, hugging her thick textbook tighter to her chest before nudging you with her elbow, “I was wondering if you’d like to help us out! We’re always looking for more girls, you know. The sisters of Delta Gamma can only do so much.”

You suck your teeth, tilting your head as your eyes drift to the towering oak tree at the center of the great lawn. The campus had spent the past few days drowning under gray skies and spring showers, but today, the sun had finally broken through. Its warmth pressed against your skin, so bright you had to squint just to avoid being completely blinded.

You look back at Tara. “What day is it again?”

“Next Saturday,” she says with a shrug. “2 PM, in the parking lot between the Delta Gamma house and Lambda Chi Alpha’s.” A pause, as if she was already sensing your impending rejection. “Please? Please!”

You hate when she does this. The puppy dog eyes. That hopeful little tilt of her head. The same look that had managed to drag you to one too many frat parties when you swore you wouldn’t go. Saying no made you feel like some heartless villain stomping on an ant just for the fun of it, and for a moment, you almost caved entirely.

“I’ll… think about it, but midterms are–” you start, but before you can finish, she’s already beaming.

“Yay!” Tara links her arm through yours, practically bouncing as you continue toward Grand Hall. “I’ll text you all the details, ‘kay? I so owe you one.”

You press your lips into a thin smile, debating whether to remind her that you hadn’t actually said yes. Instead, you settle for, “If I end up making it, we’ll call it even for you helping me study for chem.”

She grins. “Good luck on that, by the way. I know you’ll do great!”

The two of you stop outside the building, and Tara leans in, lowering her voice conspiratorially like she’s about to tell you a scandalous secret.

“And remember, the electron cloud model—”

“—is the area around an atom’s nucleus where electrons are most likely to be found,” you finish, unable to fight a smile. “I know, I know. You trained me well.”

You squeeze her arm before unhooking yourself and stepping into the lecture hall.

“I’ll find you after class!” she calls after you.

Inside, the air is sharp with cold, and a shiver runs down your spine. The mood of the room seems different today, as if the oxygen you were all breathing in was thick with anxiety. Your seatmate, Yvonne, is already at her desk, supplies neatly arranged in front of her. You give her a silent smile before sitting down and doing the same.

Once again, you can’t help but notice that the room is quiet—eerily so. Everyone is either too tired to talk or too nervous to form a coherent sentence. Probably a mixture of both.

As the exam begins, the only sounds filling the space are the rustling of paper and the scratch of pencils against scantrons. You’re on question 21 when you realize you’ve just marked “C” four times in a row. A bead of cold sweat pricks at your temple, and you read over each question about a hundred times, praying that you’ll catch your mistake. After all, that can’t be right… can it? Your gut says yes.

An hour later, relief ripples through the room as students zip up their backpacks and shuffle toward the front to turn in their scantrons. You’re right behind them, ready to bolt for the door—until Dr. Rappaccini calls your name.

Pausing mid-step, you turn back to face her, plastering on a polite smile that didn’t quite reach your eyes. “Yeah?”

She digs through her bag before pulling out a worn notebook, its cover littered with colorful tabs and sticky notes. Holding it out to you, she looks as if she couldn’t care less about the transaction.

“I believe your lab partner left this in the laboratory last class.”

Your brows furrow as you take the heavy notebook into your hands, flipping it open with a frown. Lo and behold, there it was—‘Property of Caleb Xia’ scribbled in that god-awful handwriting. Raising an eyebrow, you shake your head. “It’s his, yeah… but why are you giving it to me?”

“He didn’t show up for today’s exam, and I’ve canceled class next Monday,” she explains, slinging her tote bag over her shoulder. “Since you work closely with him, I figured you’d see him before I do.”

Now that catches your attention. A sliver—no, a slap—of satisfaction rolls through you. So his sabotage in the lab had already come back to bite him? Karma was fast today. You couldn’t be happier. But unfortunately, the thought of voluntarily interacting with Caleb makes your stomach churn, so you extend the notebook back to your professor without hesitation.

“I assure you, I don’t care to see that man. It’s probably best if you return it to him.”

She glances at her watch, and you can practically see the sweat break out on her forehead. “Oh, I wish I had the time to. I’m running late!”

Gathering her belongings, she makes a beeline for the door. You’re quick to try and follow suit.

Her voice adds a swift, “Ask around! I’m sure someone can help you track him down.”

“But wait! I don’t even—”

The door slams behind Dr. Rappaccini, leaving you frozen in place with Caleb’s stupid notebook clutched to your chest.

“—know what building he lives in.”

You groan, dragging your feet toward the exit, already dreading the idea of having to track down that idiot. In fact, maybe you won’t.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Tara’s voice cuts through the air, startling you. The flicked lighter in your hand dies out before you can hold it to the bottom of Caleb’s notebook long enough for the flames to catch.

“The damn thing won’t light,” you huff, shaking your head in defeat. “Do you happen to know anyone on campus who has lighter fluid?”

Tara crouches beside you, watching with mild horror as you attempt—and fail—to ignite the corner of the notebook again. “Uh… no, not off the top of my head.” She pauses, tilting her head. “And just to be clear, you’re aware that you’re about to light your notebook on fire, right?”

You shrug. “It’s not mine.”

Her head snaps toward you so fast you worry about whiplash. “Okay, let me rephrase that. You’re aware that you’re about to commit a felony, right?”

You flick the lighter again, giving her a puzzled look. “Please, Tara, I don’t care about felonies right now. This is war, and I need to take my revenge.”

“Revenge?” she echoes, her lips tugging downward like she hadn’t considered that to be your motive. “On the notebook or the owner?”

“On Caleb fucking Xia,” you reply, punctuating each word with another flick of the lighter. Then, finally, a tiny flame flickers to life at the corner of the notebook. A wide grin spreads across your lips. “Yay! I did it! Look, I—”

Tara leans forward, blows out the flame, and snatches the lighter from your grasp. “Are you nuts? You can’t just burn his chem notebook!”

You hum, twisting your lips to the side. “You’re right. I’d totally get caught. Maybe I should pawn it off to a frat guy? Make a quick buck. They’d probably pay good money for his notes.”

“What? No! You can’t burn his notebook because that would mean stooping to his level!”

You reach for the lighter, but she stretches her arm out just far enough that you can’t reach.

“Tara! When they go low, we must go lower.”

“When they go low, we should be the bigger person,” she corrects, patting your head like a disobedient child. “How did you even get it? You didn’t steal it, did you?”

You sigh, shaking your head. “No, I wish. Dr. Rappaccini gave it to me to return to him. Apparently, he left it in the lab.”

Tara tilts her head. “Oh. He didn’t show up for the exam? That’s… unlike him.”

Shrugging, you brush off the singed paper flakes from the bottom of the notebook. “I guess. Can’t say I care, though. It’s what he deserves.”

She scoffs. “Geez, this whole scandal has turned you heartless. The Caleb I know would rather eat glass than miss an exam, especially the first one of the semester. I hope he’s alright.”

“In that case, maybe you should be the one to return it to him,” you suggest, holding it out. “You seem to know where he lives, and you actually care if he’s alive. That’s already two steps in the right direction.”

Tara glances at her phone, then sucks on her teeth before flashing you a wry smile. “Oh, shoot! I can’t. I have my physics exam in four minutes.” Before you can argue, she’s already bolting toward her class. “Uh, I think he’s close with Zayne! The one from our bio class!”

You toss your hands up. “Why the hell am I being sent on a manhunt?” Patting your pockets, you realize something’s missing. “Hey! You took my lighter.”

“It’s for the better!” she calls over her shoulder.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

After a deep dive through Canvas, a trip to Outlook to send Zayne a rather frantic email, and a very long walk across campus, you find yourself stalking through the halls of an unfamiliar dorm building.

Your eyes flick up from your phone every few steps, scanning the numbers on the doors to make sure you haven’t somehow wandered into oblivion. It’s been ten minutes—too long, in your opinion—and you’re beginning to feel like a headless zombie, doomed to wander these halls forever.

That is, until your eyes land on a familiar set of numbers.

Room 323.

Exhaling sharply, you raise your fist and knock three times against the door. The response is almost immediate—an audible thud, followed by an impressive string of curses.

Then, the door swings open, revealing a very panicked and very shirtless Caleb.

And you? Your brain short-circuits.

For a second—just one—you can’t help it. Your gaze drops straight to his torso, where sharp lines of muscle carve into his biceps and abdomen like a damn Michelangelo sculpture. You’re almost positive those weren’t there yesterday. Scratch that. You’re absolutely positive they weren’t.

And you would have noticed. You’re nothing if not boundlessly observant. After all, you’re just a girl. You would have noticed if your infuriating classmate had nice biceps that would have certainly softened the blow of his sudden betrayal in the lab yesterday.

Pretty privilege is alive and well, you can’t help but think.

Caleb, looking equally flustered, yanks the door halfway shut, reducing the view to just his face. His chest still heaves from whatever chaos had preceded your arrival.

“I, uh… um.” He blinks, clearly rebooting his internal system. His brain fries, and of course the first thing he can do is lean his elbow against the door frame while not-so-obviously flexing his much larger bicep in the process. “So… what’s up?”

Dragging your gaze up to meet his with only minor difficulty, you hold up the slightly charred notebook in your hands. “You left this in class. Rappaccini told me to bring it to you.”

Caleb reaches for it, and the moment his fingers graze the cover, his brows furrow. He flips it over, rubbing his thumb against the edge. A smudge of soot stains his hand.

“What… happened to it?”

You lift your shoulders, hands flying up in a gesture of pure innocence. “No clue. Your guess is as good as mine.”

Before he can properly assess the obvious fire damage, you straighten your posture. If you beat him to it, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to walk away from this entire ordeal scot free.

Just… be civil. You can do that much.

“Are you not going to say thank you? I literally had to email your roommate to find out where you live. It was a total inconvenience.”

Or not.

Caleb presses his lips into a thin line, tossing the notebook onto his desk before giving you a barely-there nod. “Right. Thanks.”

His clipped tone does nothing to soothe your irritation. You’re actually starting to regret not letting the damn thing go up in flames. If it weren’t for Tara and her obnoxious morality complex, you would have.

“You’re welcome,” you say sweetly, pivoting to leave. But just before he can close the door, something crosses your mind. “Oh! By the way, I wrote my number in the margin.”

Caleb’s eyes widen. His grip on the door frame tightens. “What? For me?”

A beat of silence. Then, you burst into laughter, and the fact that he isn’t laughing with you makes it ten times funnier. You have to physically wipe the tears from your eyes before you can speak again.

“Oh, you’re serious?” you wheeze, still catching your breath. “God, no. It’s for Zayne.”

“For… Zayne?”

You nod. “Yup. I have biology with him.”

Caleb leans back slightly, like you’ve just personally offended his ancestors. “And? You have chem with me.”

You flash him an expression that Caleb can only assume is the most passive-aggressive smile known to mankind. “Mm-hmm. Well, maybe I want to get in kahoots with people who don’t sabotage my lab reports.”

Ouch. Caleb rubs the back of his neck, swallowing hard. “About that…”

“Save it,” you hum, turning to leave. “Just be a doll and relay the message, yeah?”

But just before you step away, your eyes flicker to his chest again—this time, with an exaggerated furrow of concern. “Wait a sec… what the hell is that? You should really get that nasty mole checked out.”

Caleb’s brows knit together. He instinctively glances down—

And just as his chin tilts, your hand smacks against it, forcing it back up. Your laughter is louder this time. Almost cruel.

“Too easy, this game,” you taunt, shaking your head.

You’re gone before he can do anything other than stand there, jaw slack, ears burning a shade of red that rivals a fire hydrant. How could you prank him with the easiest trick in the book? He rubs his chin, shaking his head in utter defeat as he nudges his door shut.

Yeah. He doesn’t like you one bit.

Before he can dwell on that fact, his phone buzzes in his pocket.

xavier (pres of lambda chi alpha): i woke up late and missed physics. can U slide me the notes for the past week? i also slept through those days too… btw Ur still coming to the frat car wash next saturday right ?? we need U bro. U brought in so many new customers

caleb: sure man :)

xavier (pres of lambda chi alpha): the goat

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

Sirens blare loud enough to wake you, their wailing cries bouncing off the buildings outside your window. The flashing of red and blue does little to ease your nerves—if anything, it invites the perfect storm of overthinking.

Your room is a mess. You haven’t eaten a balanced meal in days. A biology project is due next week. But above all? Midterms are rapidly approaching.

Lately, most of your days are spent holed up on the second floor of the library, tucked away in your usual corner seat. From there, you can people-watch from above and soak in just enough sunlight to keep from feeling like life is draining from you with each word you scribble down or type up. But after a while, even the comfort of routine turns into a cage.

It’s monotonous. Tiring. Far too predictable for your liking. If you don’t see at least one interesting thing each day—whether it’s someone walking their adorable dog or a person wearing a sweater so blindingly neon it makes your eyes hurt—you consider the day a waste. You still study, of course, but you need something of substance to fuel your brain. Something besides your bitter iced coffee, which barely manages to keep you conscious.

Maybe it’s the exhaustion of your second midterm season settling into your bones. Maybe it’s the weight of all your responsibilities pressing down on your shoulders. Whatever it is, it drives you to seek out a new place to study.

Is it 4 AM? Yes. Are the sirens especially loud tonight? Also yes. You can’t sleep. Sue you.

It makes perfect sense why you find yourself trudging into your university’s 24-hour café, headphones snug over your ears and meal card already in hand. Fuzzy pajama pants and an oversized hoodie hang off your frame, but if the cashier doesn’t care, neither do you. You’d be damned if you didn’t at least get your usual morning drink and a slice of banana bread to kickstart your day.

No more than an hour passes before the faint jingle of the entrance bell rings to life, prompting you to spare a glance over your shoulder, curiosity piqued.

Luck isn’t on your side. Of course it’s Caleb.

And he looks… different. Not in the way he did a few days ago—no, he looks worn. Tired. A bruise blooms across his cheek, stark even in the café’s dim lighting. You force yourself to look away before you can start ogling like a freak. Again.

But as he makes his way in your direction, you barely suppress a groan, turning back toward your laptop in a last-ditch effort to seem busy. It doesn’t work. Not when you feel the weight of his beady little amethyst stare boring into the back of your head.

You sigh, forcing a cheery tone. “Can you maybe not stand next to me looking like a decaying corpse? You’re going to attract flies.”

Caleb shrugs, managing to pick an almond off your banana bread before you slap his hand away. “You’re doing that on your own. Didn’t you hear? This café was infested with fruit flies last semester. Your perfume is basically a mating call for ‘em.”

You huff, tilting your head. “Aw. Is that your way of saying I smell nice?”

Rolling his eyes, Caleb crosses his arms over his chest. You notice a small cut on his bicep, but you do your best not to stare. You've done enough of that lately.

“No,” he flatly says. “I’m just… stating my observation.”

You turn back to your laptop, sliding your headphones over your ears. “Well, stop observing me.”

”Psh. Gladly.”

His actions are the first thing to betray his words, because he makes the executive decision to sit in the chair directly behind yours. He was sitting so damn close that you could feel the warmth of his skin through his hoodie—which you now notice is thrashed in a few places, as if he had taken scissors to the fabric and snipped away. It was odd, but you managed to look away as he shifted around to fish his own laptop out of his backpack.

Then, before you can finish typing the sentence you’d been working on before he walked in, he beats you to it. Obnoxiously so. His fingers slam against his keyboard with such force you briefly wonder if an elephant from the Linkon City Zoo has escaped and taken up tap dancing behind you.

Your teeth clench. “Can you stop typing so damn loud?”

“Oh, I’m not the loud one here.”

You glance over your shoulder, finding that he was already looking at you, “And that means what exactly?”

“It means that I could probably hear your music if I was three miles away.” With his new heightened senses, that was hardly an exaggeration. He gave you an all-too-charming smile. “Turn it down a few levels, yeah? Thanks.”

The lilt to his voice made you want to set him straight in more ways than one. “You little—”

“New Magic Wand by Tyler, The Creator at 4 AM is crazy work, by the way.”

“Boy, I’ll show you crazy—”

Suddenly, a chipper voice rings through the air. Much to your surprise, it called out your name.

Tara strides in as if you all aren’t up at the crack of dawn, looking incredibly enthusiastic about life, much like she always did. You wish you could inherit whatever will she has to live.

“Hey!” she greets with a wave. She plops down beside you, turning around in her seat so that she could face both you and Caleb at the same time. “Funny seeing you guys here. Are you talking about the fundraiser?”

You blink. “Huh?”

“Why would we be talking about the fundraiser?” he can’t help but question.

“Well,” Tara sings, “my girl here is going to be helping out Delta Gamma with the sorority wash! And you’re going to be helping out Lambda Chi Alpha again this year, right?”

Caleb is almost positive that his heart has just dropped to his ass.

He looks between you and Tara. “What? She can’t come.”

You let out a short, annoyed breath. “And why can’t I?”

And he knows he sounds like a petulant child when he mutters, “It’s my thing.”

“Aw,” you coo, tilting your head with a forced pout. “Is it your thing? Womp womp.”

Caleb rolls his eyes, but you don’t care to see it as you lean toward Tara, lowering your voice as if you were telling her top secret information. “Why didn’t you tell me he would be there?”

“Because if I had, you would have totally refused,” she says matter-of-factly. “And we need you! We can’t let the guys bring in more revenue than us this semester, they held it over our heads for, like… months last time! Plus, I need you to combat him. I swear, he brought in more customers than anyone ever has, it’s no wonder Xavier begged him to do it again.”

You blink. “Are you serious?”

Tara nods.

You can’t help but rub your chin. “I’m surprised anyone paid him for that.”

Caleb glances between the two of you. “I’m sitting right here.”

You glance his way. “We know.”

He lets out a harsh breath. “Look. If you don’t want to see me there, don’t come. Real easy fix.”

You tilt your head, raising a brow. “Why do I have to be the one to cancel? Why can’t you just skip it? You already had your fun last year playing chick magnet or… whatever.”

“I can’t. I already made a commitment.”

“Well, so did I.”

“Perfect!” Tara beams, clasping her hands together. “I’ll see you both there then. This is gonna be sooo much fun, guys! You can probably even get over the little feud you have going on, I swear, it’ll be…”

Caleb can’t even hear the rest of whatever Tara was saying. His mind is too busy short-circuiting over this very dreadful realization.

You’ll be there.

In a bikini top.

Covered in soap suds.

Trying to pass him up yet again.

This was going to be a damn nightmare.

series masterlist. ┆ next: chapter three.

a/n consider liking, commenting, or rb if you enjoyed :) i’m sorry this update took so long </3 i got so swamped with my uni work and wasn’t entirely satisfied with the chapter sooo i pushed it off.

i know that this is lowkey a slow start with really short chapters and there isn’t much spider-man stuff going on rn but… trust me guys. just trust me.

also ofc there’s a xavier cameo bc that’s my man soooo i had to include him somehow, even if he’s just a sleepy frat boy

edit: if you don’t know what a frat/sorority wash is just look them up on tiktok LMAO, it’s usually shirtless frat guys and sorority girls in bikini tops who wash cars to raise money for their foundations. it’s just a silly college tradition idk 😭

taglist. (join it by commenting under this post!)

@leonskenthusiast @universallysoulcreator @devonjs-blog @lacieohlacie @kisswithyoureyesclosed @lovesick-sylus @livonianmaia @hqnge @yuuuumii @mizzfizz @simpfortheseven @nyxthejinx-rantsaboutlads @mariojins @rcvcngers @yizhoupilled @irlsammy @gloomuri671 @risagichi @drinking2nite @seikamuzu @flowers-wilt-on-juniper-lane

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mysticstronomy · 3 months ago

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IS DARK MATTER LIGHT??

Blog#489

Welcome back,

Wednesday, March 19th, 2025.

Could we have been looking for dark matter in completely the wrong place – or rather, at the wrong mass?

A team of researchers attempting to understand some unexplained chemistry at the centre of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, think we might be.

Dark matter is an invisible substance that makes up around 85% of the Universe’s mass.

While it can’t be seen directly, its impact can be seen in the rotation of galaxies, light bending around massive clusters, and even in the echo of the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background.

The current leading theory is that dark matter is a group of particles known as ‘Weakly Interacting Massive Particles’, or WIMPs. These only interact with so-called ordinary matter via gravity.

While individual WIMPs can move through ordinary matter without affecting it, large clouds of them have enough mass to shape the Universe.

A study looking at the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy, a region called the Central Molecular Zone, may provide a different option.

“At the centre of our galaxy sit huge clouds of positively charged hydrogen – a mystery to scientists for decades because normally the gas is neutral,” says Shyam Balaji from King’s College London who led the study.

This means the gas has been ionised – the negatively charged electron has been knocked out of the atom. This requires a lot of energy, so the question is where does that energy come from?

Balaji’s team propose the culprit could be a new form of dark matter particle. These crash into each other, creating showers of charged particles that then ionise the hydrogen gas.

"The energy signatures radiating from this part of our Galaxy suggest that there is a constant, roiling source of energy [ionising the gas], and our data says it might come from a much lighter form of dark matter than current models consider,” says Balaji.

Originally published on https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, March 22nd, 2025)

"WHAT IS A DARK MATTER STAR??"

#astronomy #outer space #alternate universe #astrophysics #universe #spacecraft #white universe #space #parallel universe #astrophotography

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erbiumspectrum · 10 months ago

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Subatomic particles from a chemist's point of view - part I: the electron

This proposition actually came second in my poll, but it still had quite a lot of votes + I really wanted to write it, so here it is. Initially, I was going to make a single post, but when I finished writing the part about the electron I thought it was getting a tad long. I decided splitting this post might make it easier to digest :)

Peeking inside the atom

What is a subatomic particle? As the name hints, it’s any particle smaller than an atom. This means that electrons, protons, and neutrons all fall into this category. Protons and neutrons are made of quarks and there are also many different subatomic particles that the relentless researchers of CERN keep on cooking up, but I’m not going to talk about them because do I look like a physicist to you? Let them get excited (and despaired) about the wild assortment of the little guys making up the Standard Model. I’ll stick to the particles that chemistry finds especially important: electrons, protons, and neutrons.

Electron

Ah yes, chemistry’s specialest guy, the rockstar of this science: the electron. Arguably the most important particle for chemistry. If you’ve taken high school science then I don’t need to explain why that’s so, but just in case you actually slept through those classes (shame on you) I have one word for you: bonds. Okay, maybe two words will work better here: chemical bonds.

Chemical bonds

Atoms bind together to make the gaseous oxygen we breathe, the sucrose that dissolves in our coffee and the caffeine in said coffee, the proteins that build your body, and the ibuprofen we all worship using electrons. In fact, if chemistry is the study of matter and the reactions and changes it can undergo, then there is no chemistry without electrons. Chemistry exists because electrons do what they do.

So what do they do? Again, even if you never went any further than high school science classes, you probably remember that atoms are made up of shells (sort of like an onion or an ogre only it’s a stupidly complicated onion) with a nucleus in the middle. Those shells are made up of subshells and subshells are made up of orbitals. Phew. Within shells sit the electrons, but it’s the outermost ones that make chemists all excited (or despaired), because they’re the ones taking part in chemical reactions and forming chemical bonds. We call them valence electrons.

Valence electrons can do all sorts of things to make atoms form molecules. The valence electrons of two separate atoms can bind them together by mixing their orbitals and then sitting there in the single smoothie of the new orbital, now shared by both of the atoms. This process is called hybridization and the bond that’s formed here is called the covalent bond.

Actually, you get two new orbitals or rather as many as there were before this mixing and shuffling. Hybridization is a relatively difficult concept for newbies though, so don’t worry about that.

However, some atoms are greedy and they aren’t willing to share their electrons with anyone. They can form chemical bonds by stealing other atoms’ electrons and turning into ions: and thus turning those other – more generous – atoms into ions as well. This we call the ionic bond. There’s a third option too, chosen readily by metals because metals are commies: the metallic bond. Atoms forming this kind of bond stick together thanks to an electron “cloud” made up of the valence electrons of all those atoms, permeating the lattice this creates and conducting electricity (because they’re called electrons for a reason, right?).

Properties of the electron

Charge: negative one elementary electric charge, AKA -1.602×10^(−19) C (thank you Mr. Millikan).

Mass: 9.109 ×10^(−31) kg (uwu).

Radius: are you out of your mind?

I mean. Theoretical / particle physicists are very much concerned with figuring out the radius of the electron. Good for them! But it doesn’t matter here.

Look. There’s a handful of things that they drill into your head during a chemistry degree: no food in the lab; safety goggles on or I’ll fucking kill you; you only get to keep your dignity until you splash yourself with acid; there is no god, there is only Atkins; everything is a model; and finally – THE ELECTRON IS NOT JUST A PARTICLE OKAY it’s not a teeny tiny marble orbiting the nucleus going wheee!, it’s a quantum bastard that interferes with itself like a wave, then shoots across the apparatus you thought was clever like a particle once you set a trap, it’s an indecisive, secretive, sly asshole that makes chemistry, at its very core, a quantum nightmare of inhuman integrals, spheres, and some donut-shaped absurdities in the place of the onion-like atom model you know from school, I mean look at this thing for god’s sake

Anyway.

We don’t know the exact radius of the electron. Estimates have been made but no final answer. Why? Please ask a physicist. Your resident tumblr chemist signing off for now.

#the worst thing about writing these is now i want to write about hybridization too #and about millikans experiment #argh #mine #op #studyblr #chemblr #chemistry #stemblr #sciblr

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lrgoescrazy · 2 months ago

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sigh... i'm afraid my doodles don't make sense once again

don't judge my atomic model i am NOT finding out what the specific electron cloud is

genuinely this is insane without context

#art #artists on tumblr #tumblr #digital art #drawing #illustration #funny #atom #sketch

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geometrymatters · 1 year ago

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Zoom In Atom Or Unknown Physics Of Short Distances

Previous work of Vladimir Kalitvianski, showing how that the nucleus within an atom doesn't remain stationary but instead moves around the atomic center of inertia, creating what he describes as "positive charge clouds." These clouds are analogous to the more familiar negative electron clouds but exist much closer to the nucleus. This finding challenges the traditional view of atomic structure, showing that the nucleus is quantum-mechanically smeared, depending on the electron's configuration.

Kalitvianski's work highlights that the nucleus is not a point-like object but has a smeared distribution influenced by the electron orbits. The larger the electron orbit, the larger the positive charge cloud, which is counterintuitive. This smeared charge distribution impacts how we understand elastic scattering processes at short distances, where the nucleus behaves differently than previously thought. The form factors derived in his research describe these positive charge distributions and their implications for elastic and inelastic scattering processes.

The implications of this research are profound for both atomic physics and quantum electrodynamics (QED). It suggests that traditional models, which treat the nucleus as a point charge, need to be revised to account for this smearing effect.

#geometrymatters #geometry #atom #wavefunction #science #research #quantum mechanics #academia

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wolfliving · 2 years ago

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It starts with him

What was once a promise of technology to allow us to automate and analyze the environments in our physical spaces is now a heap of broken ideas and broken products. Technology products have been deployed en masse, our personal data collected and sold without our consent, and then abandoned as soon as companies strip mined all the profit they thought they could wring out. And why not? They already have our money.

The Philips Hue, poster child of the smart home, used to work entirely on your local network. After all, do you really need to connect to the Internet to control the lights in your own house? Well you do now!Philips has announced it will require cloud accounts for all users—including users who had already purchased the hardware thinking they wouldn’t need an account (and the inevitable security breaches that come with it) to use their lights.

Will you really trust any promises from a company that unilaterally forces a change like this on you? Does the user actually benefit from any of this?

Matter in its current version … doesn’t really help resolve the key issue of the smart home, namely that most companies view smart homes as a way to sell more individual devices and generate recurring revenue.

It keeps happening. Stuff you bought isn’t yours because the company you bought it from can take away features and force you to do things you don’t want or need to do—ultimately because they want to make more money off of you. It’s frustrating, it’s exhausting, and it’s discouraging.

And it has stopped IoT for the rest of us in its tracks. Industrial IoT is doing great—data collection is the point for the customer. But the consumer electronics business model does not mesh with the expected lifespan of home products, and so enshittification began as soon as those first warranties ran out.

How can we reset the expectations we have of connected devices, so that they are again worthy of our trust and money? Before we can bring the promise back, we must deweaponize the technology.

Guidelines for the hardware producer

What we can do as engineers and business owners is make sure the stuff we’re building can’t be wielded as a lever against our own customers, and to show consumers how things could be. These are things we want consumers to expect and demand of manufacturers.

Control

Think local

Decouple

Open interfaces

Be a good citizen

1) Control over firmware updates.

You scream, “What about security updates!” But a company taking away a feature you use or requiring personal data for no reason is arguably a security flaw.

We were once outraged when intangible software products went from something that remained unchanging on your computer, to a cloud service, with all the ephemerality that term promises. Now they’re coming for our tangible possessions.

No one should be able to do this with hardware that you own. Breaking functionality is entirely what security updates are supposed to prevent! A better checklist for firmware updates:

Allow users to control when and what updates they want to apply.

Be thorough and clear as to what the update does and provide the ability to downgrade if needed.

Separate security updates from feature additions or changes.

Never force an update unless you are sure you want to accept (financial) responsibility for whatever you inadvertently break.

Consider that you are sending software updates to other people’s hardware. Ask them for permission (which includes respecting “no”) before touching their stuff!

2) Do less on the Internet.

A large part of the security issues with IoT products stem from the Internet connectivity itself. Any server in the cloud has an attack surface, and now that means your physical devices do.

The solution here is “do less”. All functionality should be local-only unless it has a really good reason to use the Internet. Remotely controlling your lights while in your own house does not require the cloud and certainly does not require an account with your personal information attached to it. Limit the use of the cloud to only the functions that cannot work without it.

As a bonus, less networked functionality means fewer maintenance costs for you.

3) Decouple products and services.

It’s fine to need a cloud service. But making a product that requires a specific cloud service is a guarantee that it can be enshittified at any point later on, with no alternative for the user owner.

Design products to be able to interact with other servers. You have sold someone hardware and now they own it, not you. They have a right to keep using it even if you shut down or break your servers. Allow them the ability to point their devices to another service. If you want them to use your service, make it worthwhile enough for them to choose you.

Finally, if your product has a heavy reliance on the cloud to work, consider enabling your users to self-host their own cloud tooling if they so desire. A lot of people are perfectly capable of doing this on their own and can help others do the same.

4) Use open and standard protocols and interfaces.

Most networked devices have no reason to use proprietary protocols, interfaces, and data formats. There are open standards with communities and software available for almost anything you could want to do. Re-inventing the wheel just wastes resources and makes it harder for users to keep using their stuff after you’re long gone. We did this with Twine, creating an encrypted protocol that minimized chatter, because we needed to squeeze battery life out of WiFi back when there weren’t good options.

If you do have a need for a proprietary protocol (and there are valid reasons to do so):

Document it.

If possible, have a fallback option that uses an open standard.

Provide tooling and software to interact with your custom protocols, at the very least enough for open source developers to be able to work with it. This goes for physical interfaces as much as it does for cloud protocols.

If the interface requires a custom-made, expensive, and/or hard-to-find tool to use, then consider using something else that is commonly available and off the shelf instead.

5) Be a good citizen.

Breaking paid-for functionality on other people’s stuff is inherently unethical. Consider not doing this! Enshittification is not a technical problem, it is a behavioral one. Offer better products that are designed to resist enshittification, and resist it yourself in everything you do.

Nothing forced Philips to do what they are doing: a human made a decision to do it. They could have just as easily chosen not to. With Twine’s server lock-in, at least we chose to keep it running, for 12 years now. Consider that you can still make a decent living by being honest and ethical towards the people who are, by purchasing your products, paying for your lifestyle.

We didn’t get here by accident. Humans made choices that brought us to this point, and we can’t blame anyone for being turned off by it. But we can choose to do better. We can design better stuff. And we can choose not to mess things up after the fact.

We’re putting this into practice with Pickup. (We also think that part of an IoT reset is giving users the creative freedom of a general-purpose device.) If you’re looking for something better and our product can fill a need you have, consider backing us. We cannot claim to be perfect or have all of the answers, but we are absolutely going to try. The status quo sucks. Let’s do something about it.

Published October 15, 2023 By Jeremy Billheimer

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 3 months ago

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Scientists identify unexpected variations in electrons connecting Jupiter with its moon Io

Using data collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft as it flew past Jupiter's highly volcanic moon Io in late 2023 and again in early 2024, a Southwest Research Institute-led team identified electrons with energies enhanced by processes in the region connecting the moon to Jupiter's ionosphere, called an Alfvén wing. A paper published in Geophysical Research Letters emphasizes how these electrons, and their variation within that region, shape the plasma environment around Io.

"These electrons gain energy from the interaction between Io and Jupiter's magnetic field," said Dr. Robert Ebert, lead author of the paper. "These energized electrons then interact with Io's atmosphere and surface, ionizing and exciting atoms and molecules and even creating aurora."

In the 1990s, NASA's Galileo mission discovered the presence of intense electron beams within the Alfvén wing and other regions near Io. These electrons can travel along the local magnetic field and interact with Io's atmosphere. New results from Juno indicate that the electron properties within Io's Alfvén wing are not uniform. The number of electrons in these beams are largest at the boundaries of the wing and weaker inside, suggesting that their interaction with Io might also vary across the moon.

Juno's extended mission includes explorations of some of its many moons. This study focuses on plasma observations from the SwRI-led Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) as Juno flew by Io on Dec. 30, 2023, and Feb. 3, 2024.

"It is amazing to see that JADE was able to make new, high-resolution measurements in this region of Jupiter's harsh radiation environment," said Dr. Frederic Allegrini, JADE instrument lead and second author of the paper. "Any instrument or spacecraft would stop functioning after a short exposure time if it were to stay there rather than fly through it."

The Juno observations confirmed the continuous presence of electron beams in the Alfvén wing over Io's pole and their presence beyond the distance where Galileo explored. These beams travel along Jupiter's magnetic field, impacting Io or its atmosphere when on magnetic field lines that have one foot connected to Io.

"These spatially variable beams are more energized than electrons in the nearby Io torus, a donut-shaped cloud of electrically charged gas surrounding Jupiter," Ebert said. "Their location within and around the Alfvén wing must be considered when interpreting their impact on Io's atmosphere and nearby plasma environment."

The Juno mission is led by SwRI Associate Vice President Dr. Scott Bolton.

TOP IMAGE: Jupiter's moon Io (left side of image) is connected to Jupiter (right side of image) through the planet's magnetic field. Juno's close flyby of Io revealed electrons with varying properties in the region connecting these two solar system bodies. Credit: John Spencer, Southwest Reasearch Institute, and John Clarke, Boston University

LOWER IMAGE: (Top panels) X-Y projection of Juno's Io flyby prior to (a) PJ57 and (c) PJ58 in the IPhiO coordinate system. Overplotted along the trajectory is the electron differential energy flux summed from 200 eV–32 keV. Data above (below) the black trajectory line denotes electrons streaming toward (away from) Io. The magnitude of the integrated flux is represented by both the color and thickness of the symbols. The black flow streamlines are adapted from Saur et al. (1999). The gray circles offset from Io (top panels) represent modeled cross-sections of the Alfvén wing at Juno's location. (Bottom panels) Y-Z projection of Juno's Io flyby for (b) PJ57 and (d) PJ58. The purple regions represent the orientation of the magnetic field connected to Io at the time of the flybys. Credit: Geophysical Research Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1029/2024GL114183

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics #nasa

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mineralsrocksandfossiltalks · 7 months ago

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Throwback Thursday: Copper and it's Electrons

Before we talk about conductivity, we need to do a little background on atom structure. An atom is made of three parts: protons, neutrons and electrons.

Each atom has electron shells, an orbit that the electrons follow around the nucleus within the electron cloud. The larger the atom, the more electron shells there are. Copper has 29 electrons.

The outermost shell of an atom contains valence electrons. Valence electrons are electrons that can participate in the formation of chemical bonds...or electrical conductivity. The fewer valence electrons, the more reactive an element is because it doesn't require as much energy. Looking at the model, Copper only has one valence electron.

That is why copper is such a good conductor of electricity. The loosely held valence electrons respond to an applied electric field or potential difference and drift toward one direction, creating an electric current.

In fact, it is the standard because of its high conductivity, resistance to corrosion and high thermal resistance. Isn't copper neat?

Tune in tomorrow for Fossil Friday! Fossilize you later!

#geology #fun facts #science #mineralogy #minerals #science education #chemistry #physics #conductivity

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mysticstronomy · 1 year ago

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BLACK HOLES CAN CREATE SPACE LASERS??

Blog#377

Wednesday, February 21st, 2024.

Welcome back,

Gravitational waves are known disturbances in the fabric of space-time caused a variety of sources, including supermassive black holes, stellar-mass black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, supernova, and various mergers of these celestial objects.

A new paper theorizes that gravitational waves could possibly propagate across the universe in the form of a “gravitational laser.”

However, this theory relies on a boson known as the axion, which is one of the leading and very hypothetical candidates that could explain dark matter.

If the abundant discoveries of Albert Einstein somehow formed a superhero cinematic universe, then “gravitational lasers” would be the ultimate team-up blockbuster.

In 1916, Einstein theorized the existence of gravitational waves as part of this General Theory of Relativity (though at the time he doubted we’d ever be able to detect them).

But only a year later, the former patent clerk also revealed his quantum theory of radiation. in which he detailed the idea of “stimulated emission of radiation”—the “ser” in laser.

Now, a new paper published on the preprint archive arXiv theorizes that it’s possible gravitational waves could propagate across the universe as a laser. Few sentences get more Einstein than that.

“Stimulated radiation and gravitational waves (GW) are two of the most important predictions made by Albert Einstein,” University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and study author Jing Liu wrote in the paper. “We demonstrate that stimulated GW radiation can occur within gravitational atoms, which consist of Kerr black holes and the surrounding boson clouds formed through superradiance.”

Ok, let’s take a step back. Gravitational waves are literally ripples in the fabric of spacetime. The ones we can detect are formed from the most massive celestial objects and collisions in the universe—things like pulsars, supernovas, merging supermassive black holes, and colliding neutron stars. Since Einstein’s conception of this phenomenon, these space-time disturbances have been described as waves, as they literally ripple outward and across the universe.

Eventually, some made their way to Earth and were faintly detected (for the first time) in 2016 by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

This new paper suggests that gravitational waves can also travel much like a laser, but this theory relies on one major missing piece of the Standard Model of Physics: axions.

This hypothetical, weakly interacting boson is one of the leading candidates for explaining dark matter, and because they are so light—again, hypothetically—they have quantum properties. As a result of its wave/particle properties, axions wouldn’t fall into a rotating (Kerr) black hole, but would instead exist around it “the way electrons exist near the nucleus of an atom,” as LiveScience describes it.

Originally published on www.popularmechanics.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, February 24th, 2024)

"COULD THERE BE A 'DARK MIRROR' UNIVERSE IN OURS??"

#astronomy #outer space #alternate universe #astrophysics #universe #spacecraft #white universe #space #parallel universe #astrophotography

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yanderecrazysie · 2 years ago

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Lesson Part 2 (Yandere Oikawa)

Requested on Wattpad and Quotev.

Title: Lesson

Pairings: Oikawa Tooru x Reader

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, teacher-student “relationship” (one-sided)

Summary: Oikawa isn’t your model student, to put it lightly. But extra lessons may prove to be your worst mistake yet.

Part 1: here

lesson

/noun/

a period of learning or teaching.

Your only way out was locked electronically and your captor stood opposite you. This was potentially the worst possible situation you’d ever found yourself in.

A shiver of unease runs down your spine and Oikawa’s smirk grows wider, reminding you a little of the Cheshire cat. You wondered if the smile hurt the corners of his mouth with how wide it had become.

Still, you tried to remain calm.

“Oikawa, what’s going on? Why is the door locked?”

The man chuckled, the laugh almost saccharine, “Relax Teach’, I just thought it’d be better if we had some privacy for our tutoring session.”

You looked at the windows and your heart sunk when you saw that the shutters were down and locked. The door didn’t seem to have any way to unlock it manually. It was if everything was ready for your visit- ready to trap you here forever.

“What do you want?” Your voice came out softer than you’d meant, so you tried to get the authority back in your tone, “Oikawa, you need to unlock the door.”

Oikawa ignored the last part of your plea and instead answered, “I want to learn Spanish, of course! Remember, that’s why you’re here, silly!”

His tone was joking, but Oikawa’s gaze was anything but. More predatory than playful.

“I can still help you, but we need to go somewhere else.” You tried to keep your tone steady and stern, “The library or the school or anywhere else. I don’t feel comfortable staying here.”

Oikawa considered your words for a moment, before shrugging carelessly, “Well, you said we’d study here, so that’s what we’re doing.”

You cursed your poor decisions- what had possessed you to come here? This was all your fault, wasn’t it?

No. It wasn’t your fault, you reminded yourself. You didn’t ask for this. This was Oikawa’s fault.

“Let me go,” You demanded, your tone as sharp as you could make it.

“No.” Oikawa shot back, eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Why?” You tried to keep yourself from breaking and showing him just how frightened you were. You couldn’t let this man see how much he affected you.

His smile faded for a moment, a thoughtful expression clouding his visage. It was almost as if he wasn’t sure himself or, perhaps, wasn’t sure how to express what he was feeling. You waited impatiently for him to answer you as he took a few moments to think.

“I want to learn more than Spanish from you,” he said slowly, softly, “I want to learn everything about you. I want to learn how you work, how you think. I want to learn how to get any emotion from you I’d like.”

You shivered, not sure how to feel about this new information. The implication of his words finally sank in. You were alone with someone who seemed obsessed with you somehow. You couldn’t imagine why, but he was completely enamored with you. You could see it in his eyes.

Your heartbeat picked up, your throat going dry as your logic gave way to panic.

You took a step back, fear choking you as your eyes began to dart around the room.

No knives in sight- where’s the kitchen? Anything sharp? No, nothing… Anything I can use to bash his skull in? That vase maybe? Should I attack him or try to bust open the door? Will he grab me first? What do I do?

You were hyperventilating, vision blurring as you began to lose your grip on reality. You took a shaky step backward, desperately trying to keep your swaying body from losing its balance or passing out on the hardwood floor.

The brunette closed the distance in an instant, grabbing your wrist and pulling you close. You tried to scream, but his hand pushed your mouth against his chest, muffling the desperate noise.

“It’s okay, we don’t have to learn anything right now,” Oikawa cooed softly, “Even teachers need breaks sometimes.”

Panic coursed through your veins. Oikawa was so close that you could feel every inch of his warm skin. You were trapped, helpless. Your mind raced, trying desperately to find a way out.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Oikawa said softly, “I just want to get to know you better. That’s all.”

You want to believe him, but the fear is overwhelming. Oikawa may be charming, but your instincts know better right now.

Oikawa’s hand came up to stroke your hair. On pure instinct, your head swiveled around and bit deep into the side of his hand. He let out a yelp of pain, his hand shooting back as he released you. You seized the opportunity and scurried away from him.

You threw yourself at the door, trying desperately to unlock it somehow. There truly was no way to unlock it manually, as you’d unfortunately thought beforehand.

Oikawa recovered quickly, grasping his bleeding hand in the other. He grimaced at you, trying to slap that obnoxious smirk on his face but in too much pain to successfully do so.

He began to approach you, his aura suddenly threatening, the air starting to suffocate you.

“You really shouldn’t have done that, Teach’,” he said darkly, “And here I thought we could have a pleasant evening together.”

He leaned down to your trembling form and grinned.

“Maybe it’s you that needs a lesson.”

#yandere #yandere haikyuu #yandere x reader #yandere one shot #haikyuu!!#one shot #yandere oikawa #oikawa tooru

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