Comment by ur-whale
3 years ago
There seems to be an unspoken assumption that all protons (as in: a set things that seem to have similar external properties and behaviors) are actually identical "inside" or - to put it another way - all "built" the same way.
Other than Occam's razor, why is that assumption considered valid?
Have we verified this experimentally?
Or does some complex piece of math show that only one possible internal structure can lead to similar externally observable behaviors?
Not specific to the proton, but "why are all particles of type X seemingly identical" is a question that physicists have asked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identical_particles
Sometimes with not-so-serious results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-electron_universe
The energy levels of individual atoms have been compared at the level of a few parts in 1E18 in optical atomic clocks. If properties of the protons making up the nuclei of these atoms (mass, charge,...) were different at that level, it would have shown up.