# Is the iconic representation of an atom the same as it was decades ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795 "2015-08-02T12:51:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/21 "2015-08-03T17:52:45Z")
[Ask Dr. Manhattan.](http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/31940/why-did-dr-manhattan-choose-the-hydrogen-atom-for-the-symbol-on-his-forehead) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/22 "2015-08-03T17:59:27Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > [Ask Dr. Manhattan.](http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/31940/why-did-dr-manhattan-choose-the-hydrogen-atom-for-the-symbol-on-his-forehead) Didn’t I just say this? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/23 "2015-08-03T19:41:22Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > (In case you wonder why I’m asking, I want to decorate a cake to welcome home my son after a summer spent studying quantum mechanics. But I don’t want to create something so, you know, last century.) If your decorating skills are up to text, I say, go last century with the [Schrödinger equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger_equation#Time-dependent_equation). It may or may not trigger PTSD in him, though, depending on how the summer went. Just warning… ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/24 "2015-08-03T20:01:21Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > How about [alchemy symbols](http://alchemicaldiagrams.blogspot.com/2011/10/alchemy-symbols-with-meanings.html) … seriously … you _ **do NOT** _ want him talking about what’s he’s been doing. But until she asks him it won’t be determined whether or not he has actually done anything. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/25 "2015-08-03T20:03:25Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > How about [alchemy symbols](http://alchemicaldiagrams.blogspot.com/2011/10/alchemy-symbols-with-meanings.html) … seriously … you _ **do NOT** _ want him talking about what’s he’s been doing. But whether or not he has actually done anything will be in an indeterminate state, until she asks him. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/26 "2015-08-04T02:38:51Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > But until she asks him it won’t be determined whether or not he has actually done anything. Nor, if he did any thing at all, can it be determined which of many possible things he has done, until observed. Perhaps it can be argued that, at the time of _the act of baking the cake (and in particular, the act of creating the pattern in the frosting),_ the superimposed possibilities of what he has done all summer will collapse and it will become determined. ETA: If this interpretation is correct, then the topping suggested in Post #2 becomes inadvisable. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/27 "2015-08-04T14:31:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Didn’t I just say this? Woops… sorry… I didn’t read all the way down. I should’ve done a search for “Manhattan” first. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Pham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Carl\_Pham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Pham)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/28 "2015-08-05T07:33:02Z")
If he’s been talking about atoms, I would second the use of the Schroedinger equation (or the energy eigenvalue equation). He wouldn’t be using Feynmann diagrams to talk about atoms. If you want to be genuinely profound, though, you could use the commutator: [x,p] = ih (with a little bar through the upright of the h, and the i is traditionally italic). That puppy is the entire core of quantum mechanics. It is the only genuine and irreduceable distinction from classical mechanics, and it would be recognized as signalling “quantum” by anybody in any of the far-flung suburbs of physics and physical chemistry. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795/29 "2015-08-05T13:46:31Z")
> [@Carl\_Pham](#): > > [x,p] = ih > > (with a little bar through the upright of the h, and the i is traditionally italic). Don’t forget the little hats over the x and the p. Shown [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_commutation_relation). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-iconic-representation-of-an-atom-the-same-as-it-was-decades-ago/726795.md?page=1)