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Is there a theoretical interesting in another dimensionless constants?

Physics Asked on February 19, 2021

Since my initial study in QM I have found a lot of quotations about the constant of value "1/137", the fine structure constant. Generally the author gives an introduction about it and says the curiosity that physicists have in knowing "why this value".

Now, there is others dimensionless constants, like the ratio of proton/electron rest mass, but i didn’t see an general interesting in this dimensionless constant as there is with respect to the fine structure.

Is there a reason to special to focus on the fine structure constant?

Maybe because Feynman and Fermi were excited specifically about the structure constant, the physics after them was too?
Maybe actually there is equal searching for answers for any other dimensionless constant, but that i don’t know. Please let me know.

One Answer

There are many dimensionless constants used in modelling fluid flow and heat transfer- the Mach number, the Reynolds number, Froude number, Nusselt number, etc. These are used for example when building a scale model of an airplane for testing in a wind tunnel; in this case the Reynolds number tells you how to scale the airflow speed in such a manner as to match the scale factor of the model airplane's size, so the test results from the model can be scaled correctly to predict the real-life behavior of the full-size plane.

Answered by niels nielsen on February 19, 2021

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