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Quantum Physics Basics
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I definitely think we're on the same page, CI seems right but feels wrong. It's one of those interpretations that is the best fit, but not the best model, it seems to throw up some things that we are unable to answer, and that to any scientist must feel like a real downer. I can't help feeling we could do better.
We should really start another thread.
We should really start another thread.
I typed about 500 words on it then realised Id forgotten a hell of a lot about it so Ill summarise it in a few sentences.
everything you see around you is a wavefunction, taking in dependant variables of space and time coordinates and spitting out a complex number. every particle has this function, defined over all of space and time where it can possibly be, giving an outcome similar to a complex temperature for example- a number for every position and time. these numbers are the defining attributes about the particle and describe everything it does- most weirdly, the likelyhood of you finding it in any one area (found by integrating the square of the function over the space you are going to look, and normalising). the wavefunctions all obey the schrodinger equation, an empirical invention.
in a less mathematical sense, you have the fundemental heisenburg uncertainty principle which states the momentum and position of a particle cannot both be known to arbitrary accuracy, and their measurement accuracy product is limited by the planck constant (in the same axis- so you can know the x position well and y momentum well). also a similar (perhaps more fundemental) relationship exists between energy and time.
the results of this are some things like diffraction- if a particle goes through a thin slit it is telling you its position to some detail. so its momentum in that direction is a bit randomised, and so the direction can change a little, causing diffraction patterns.
similarly, because both energy and time cannot be measured to high accuracies, you can have weird things such as virtual particles, whose existence is hidden and also enabled by this principle which allows particles to come into existance and then dissapear, so long as the time they are around for is short enough so that they are unobservable and therefore do not violate anything.
like I said I wrote a massive amount on quantum numbers and states and the scrodinger equation, if you really want to undertsand it you have to understand the maths I believe, because quantum mechanics without maths is meaningless- like in A-level, they can give you as many examples as you like to baffle the students, but it won't deepen understanding.
everything you see around you is a wavefunction, taking in dependant variables of space and time coordinates and spitting out a complex number. every particle has this function, defined over all of space and time where it can possibly be, giving an outcome similar to a complex temperature for example- a number for every position and time. these numbers are the defining attributes about the particle and describe everything it does- most weirdly, the likelyhood of you finding it in any one area (found by integrating the square of the function over the space you are going to look, and normalising). the wavefunctions all obey the schrodinger equation, an empirical invention.
in a less mathematical sense, you have the fundemental heisenburg uncertainty principle which states the momentum and position of a particle cannot both be known to arbitrary accuracy, and their measurement accuracy product is limited by the planck constant (in the same axis- so you can know the x position well and y momentum well). also a similar (perhaps more fundemental) relationship exists between energy and time.
the results of this are some things like diffraction- if a particle goes through a thin slit it is telling you its position to some detail. so its momentum in that direction is a bit randomised, and so the direction can change a little, causing diffraction patterns.
similarly, because both energy and time cannot be measured to high accuracies, you can have weird things such as virtual particles, whose existence is hidden and also enabled by this principle which allows particles to come into existance and then dissapear, so long as the time they are around for is short enough so that they are unobservable and therefore do not violate anything.
like I said I wrote a massive amount on quantum numbers and states and the scrodinger equation, if you really want to undertsand it you have to understand the maths I believe, because quantum mechanics without maths is meaningless- like in A-level, they can give you as many examples as you like to baffle the students, but it won't deepen understanding.
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