Atoms, the Building Blocks of Networks
We have talked a lot about how the laws of Networks (i.g. Nash Equilibrium, Balance, and Strong Triadic Closure) translates into the real world of relationships and interactions. For this blog post, I propose that these concepts hold true to the physical world around us, down to the interactions between our universe’s fundamental building blocks, atoms.
Covalent bonding is the sharing of electrons between two atoms. The bond is considered stable as long as both atoms are at lower energy state after the bond. Since the best situation for all players in the bond is to covalently bond, the state of the molecule is in a Nash equilibrium. In a larger respect, much like a network of relationships, a molecule is determined to be balanced by the charges localized over its constituent atoms.
Ultimately, the networks between atoms and molecules relate to the material’s properties and characteristics, just as buyer-trader-seller structure relates to the transactions and financial outcome in the stock market models. With polymer chains, crosslinking creates strong triadic closure between atoms within the systems, leading to the physical strengthening of the material. The effect of structural networks on an atomic level plays a crucial role in the functionality and characteristics of the physical world around us.
http://www.avogadro.co.uk/structure/chemstruc/network/g-molecular.htm