Is my reasoning and information correct?

Question

We are made of atoms. Somewhere inside an atom there are electrons winking in and out of existence.

So are we constantly winking in and out of existence?

I read a book on this a really, really long time ago and was reminded of it today, so my information is probably wrong. If it's right, that's trippy as hell and really cool.

Could you please give me the proper information if I'm wrong?

I.e tell me the incorrect information and the laws that state why I'm wrong? And information about the law?

E.g: "Well, commie, you're wrong. [Information about atoms], which is the case because the Second Law of X says so. [Layman's explanation of the Second Law of X]"

Answer 1

The electrons aren't really winking in and out of existence.

There are electron/positron (a positron is an antimatter version of an electron) pairs that have the possibility of coming into existence, and then canceling and dropping out of existence. To find out what happens on the atomic scale, you must average over certain possibilities, but often most of them end up canceling out to something ordinary.

Usually the possibility of this electron-positron pair just cancels out over the average, but if the is a very strong electric field present (and by very strong, I mean gigantic), there becomes a significant possibility of the pair becoming positioned so that they line up (or polarize) in the direction of that field. This effect is called vacuum polarization. And that means just what it says, the vacuum (nothing) becomes polarized.

There are a lot of random things that go on on the atomic scale. Most of them average out partly because the number of ways that things can be in an ordinary sort of set-up far outnumber (and by far, I mean many, many powers of 10) the weird set-ups. This is roughly why things go into disorder. There are just a lot more disordered ways of things being than there are ordered ways, and so the odds are that the situation will be disordered.

It's pretty advanced, but one popular science book you can read about the subject is a book by Richard Feynman called QED, A Strange Theory of Light and Matter.

Answer 2

The "winking in and out of existence" is the hole in what you have said. There are a lot of connotations associated with that English phrase that are not consistent with the mathematical expressions that they are trying to summarize. Heisenberg uncertainty is not the same as winking in and out of existence.

Answer 3

I don't think electrons wink in and out of existence... there's that law of conservation of matter. Plus, even if they did, the rest of you isn't, so technically you're not winking in and out of existence (only part of you). But I still don't think that's right. Interesting thought, though.

Answer 4

To the upteenth degree of known,understood and agreed upon, by the Copenhagen Group[¹] states that is correct.
and I concur.