Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe cover image

What if our particles were different?

Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

00:00

The Photon Was Left Massless, and That Means That Electricity Isn't Changed

The universe doesn't have a preferred location in space. While there is a symmetry of the photon, it's called electromagnetic gauge symmetry. The consequence of that is that electric charge is conserved. And that gauge symmetry can only exist if the photon is massless. So if the photon becomes massive, then electromagnetic symmetry is broken. That means electric ge is no longer conserved and you can do things like create charges out of nothing. You can destroy electric charges, which is not something that happens in are universe currently - Yeicantaneed those moleculess to get up every morning.

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