Well, your alcohol tolerance is still pretty abysmal but now you can drink two beers without taking off all your clothes and screaming in Klingon so for my night out lets go out to a bar, don't worry I'll pick some place with not to many people , for a little drinking and dancing with the girls.
Sheldon winced. There is tolerance and there is enjoyment, I've not reached the seconds stage yet.
Sheldon is nursing his second bottle of beer and leaning against the wall, watching Penny dance. He's pondering if she is actually oblivious of the effect she's having on people, especially him, or if its deliberate.
He settles on classifying her as a classical extrovert exhibitionist in this social context. She thrives on the appreciation of the crowds, which causes a certain level of jealousy in him. But she does keep glancing his was as she dances, making sure she knows where she is and that he's watching her. She's his, and knowing that causes feelings of pride. He sighs. Social situations are very tricky, no wonder people self medicate.
She comes bouncing off the dance floor and takes his hand, leading him over to a pool table that's become free. "Can you play pool?"
"Penny, I'm a physicist. It is simply be a matter of applying my knowledge via muscles and a stick to a number of roughly equal balls ."
"It's called a cue, not a stick. I'll take that as your usual "plenty theory, no practical" answer"
Sheldon picks up a cue and looks at her. "How long did it take you to get your washing down of the telegraph line?"
Penny twirls her cue. "Oh it is On now mister"
Sheldon hefts the cue experimentally then holds it like a light sabre. "Mind if I have a quick practice round first to get my eye in?"
"Sure"
He circles the table, deep in thought. Then he sets the balls up in two lines and experimentally knocks one into the other, seeing how much force it takes to move them. He smiles. "Reminds me of particle physics."
"It's hardly one of your atom smashers honey."
He starts arranging the balls in a cluster in the centre.
"Oh, its surprisingly similar. As I'm sure you know by now, almost all matter is made up by simply arranging three basic particles. Protons, which have a positive charge, are in the central nucleus with neutrons, which have the same weight but no charge. The third particle, the electron, has an equal but opposite negative charge to the Proton but much smaller mass and orbits the nucleus."
He starts bouncing the white ball around the table.
"The number of protons in the nucleus dictates what element it is. 1 proton is hydrogen, the lightest possible."
He centres two balls, one spot one stripe
"Two and two. Helium. Three and three. Lithium. Four and four, beryllium, Five and five Boron, All the way through to Six and six. Carbon. Seven and seven. Nitrogen.
"In stable atoms there are equal numbers of protons and electrons so the charges cancel."
He adds the 15th ball, making Seven and eight.
"In isotopes you have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons which makes the nucleus more or less stable, so you have the same element but with different properties"
He puts the white ball down.
"In ions there are different numbers of electrons, so the element has an overall charge which makes it more reactive."
Penny watches him, interested. He has a weird clarity when he gets in the right mood
"That has got to be the weirdest way to rack up ever. But if elements are that simple, why can't we just push extra protons into something and turn it into gold?"
"Oh, we can"
"Then why aren't you a science billionaire?"
"It's just a matter of scale. If we scale this up to accurate atomic dimensions the nucleus would be these balls in the centre of the field in a super bowl size football stadium."
"The electrons would be bullets going round and round the stadium out in the parking lot. At over mach 5"
"You'd just have to take your shot from a mile away and hit the nucleus just right, so the ball stopped touching but didn't knock the others apart. hard enough to stick, as the balls repel each other, but not so hard as to break the nucleus apart. "
With a crack he hits the cue ball and knocks a single stripe ball off the cluster, sending it spinning into a pocket.
"If you break the nucleus you get all the particles coming apart, forming smaller elements and maybe effecting other atoms around them"
He walks round the table and hits another shot, knocking two balls off into one pocket .
"There goes hydrogen."
"We'd just need to do that accurately 1.023 x 10 to the power 23 times, that's a 1 followed by 23 zeroes, to make just 79 grams of pure gold"
"As I said it's possible just not cost effective. It'd cost more money than there is in the world several times over"
He hits one ball into another and sends them both spinning into the far pocket.
"The real science is shooting particles together at high speed so they hit head on and break open, then we can get a glimpse of what they're made of inside."
he stops, Smiles at her. She Blinks and realises he's cleared the table. He didn't miss a shot.
"Ready to play?"
Then he realises he's got an audience . Someone to the side laughs and mutters "Worst pool hustler ever" and another agrees "I need another beer, I think I just learned stuff"
