# Electrons are extremely round **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165 "2018-10-18T19:19:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/1 "2018-10-18T19:19:10Z")
[Electrons are extremely round](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/measurement-shows-the-electrons-stubborn-roundness/) … and some physicists are not pleased about it. > [@David DeMille](#): > > “It’s certainly not going to make anybody very happy.” ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/2 "2018-10-18T21:34:58Z")
Electrons just refuse to do what they’re told. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/3 "2018-10-18T22:56:05Z")
Electrons are\* not\* round. They’re flat and carried on the backs of tiny turtles. These people are just part of the round electron conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/4 "2018-10-18T23:12:31Z")
Scientists should not reward their electrons with more attention when they behave badly. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/5 "2018-10-19T01:27:35Z")
Just hit em with a hammer. Make em whatever shape you want. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/6 "2018-10-19T01:32:40Z")
Also, I can give them some recommendations on setting up experiments where everything goes [pear-shaped](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pear-shaped#Failure). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/7 "2018-10-19T02:15:46Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Just hit em with a hammer. Make em whatever shape you want. Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew… ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/8 "2018-10-19T06:47:14Z")
Who would be the unhappy scientists then? Proponents of the string theory? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/9 "2018-10-19T11:35:27Z")
Why y’all so negative about electrons? ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/10 "2018-10-19T11:51:01Z")
There’s no such thing as electrons. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/11 "2018-10-19T12:17:56Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > Who would be the unhappy scientists then? Proponents of the string theory? It’s that the current Standard Model in physics predicts everything we know so far perfectly, and yet leaves several important questions unanswered. So physicists are in the strange position of hoping to prove the best theory we’ve got so far wrong. An immeasurably small electron dipole moment means we’re currently stuck with the same old. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/12 "2018-10-19T13:29:20Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > Who would be the unhappy scientists then? Proponents of the string theory? So…electrons are just relatively large balls of tiny strings. Which only means God is a cat. No surprises there. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/13 "2018-10-19T13:41:12Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > There’s no such thing as electrons. Nonsense. Just last night I heard one in the woods behind my house. It made a fearful racket. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electrons-are-extremely-round/823165/14 "2018-10-19T14:24:00Z")
We never had these kinds of problems with phlogiston. I don’t know why we switched.