Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2021 November 24

= November 24 =

Subatomic Particles
What are subatomic particles made of? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.26.107.224 (talk) 02:32, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Read Subatomic particle for some opinions on the matter. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:56, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * These are not so much (subjective) opinions as different (objective) aspects resulting from different angles in approaching the subject, much as in the parable of the blind men and an elephant. --Lambiam 08:07, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I was at first going to suggest that they're made of even smaller particles, and that those particles are made of yet smaller particles, and so on. Kind of a turtles all the way down argument. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 11:31, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Quantum field theory avoids that problem. -- Jayron 32 13:12, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Earbuds sound
While typically headphones could be regarded as superior to earbuds, could it be argued that, in the absence of noise or low noise, earbuds deliver sound more efficiently and clearly because they face directly the ear canal instead of hanging around auricle, like headphones? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 17:22, 24 November 2021 (UTC)


 * The best earbuds are better than some headphones and vice versa. So one should compare the best ones in a given narrow price range. Such a comparison has to be based, I think, on the subjective judgements of listeners. I expect some such comparisons have been made. While I'm not aware of any and their results, I cannot offhand think of an argument why earbuds should be expected to come out on top. As we hear sounds naturally, they come to us from around our auricles; pumping them straight into the ear canal may have an unnatural effect. I'm not saying that it has (more so than earphones), but I cannot rule it out. Headphones also offer more room for including microelectronics for processing the signal for a better listening experience. --Lambiam 08:47, 25 November 2021 (UTC)