Quantum mechanics - can someone explain it?
Discussion
A lump of steel seems stiff. We all know that you can stretch it, and bend it, but we all still think of a lump of steel as being stiff.
When you get down to an atomic level, a steel atom (obviously there is no such thing, but it's convenient for brevity) seems really floppy, like a slinky spring.
The thing is that a whole lump of steel is made up of billions of steel atoms, and the size of the object, compared with the size of the atomic bond that makes the steel hold together, is vast. At the atomic scale the size of the bond is vast compared with the size of the matter in the steel atom.
The fact of the matter (and my specific point) is that you can still influence the bonds in the lump of steel, by bending it, but the properties seem very different because the scale of observation has changed so much. Irrespective, the scientific properties are the same for both the whole lump of steel and the steel atom.
The difference is purely the human perception of reality.
Looking at it from the other way, i.e. to say what do the smallest things look like when they're all added together, rather than split up to their smallest parts, you quickly realise that most things we see and touch are mainly made of nothing.
The only reason they seem tangible is that they reflect the light, and they interfere with the atoms in our bodies.
When you get down to an atomic level, a steel atom (obviously there is no such thing, but it's convenient for brevity) seems really floppy, like a slinky spring.
The thing is that a whole lump of steel is made up of billions of steel atoms, and the size of the object, compared with the size of the atomic bond that makes the steel hold together, is vast. At the atomic scale the size of the bond is vast compared with the size of the matter in the steel atom.
The fact of the matter (and my specific point) is that you can still influence the bonds in the lump of steel, by bending it, but the properties seem very different because the scale of observation has changed so much. Irrespective, the scientific properties are the same for both the whole lump of steel and the steel atom.
The difference is purely the human perception of reality.
Looking at it from the other way, i.e. to say what do the smallest things look like when they're all added together, rather than split up to their smallest parts, you quickly realise that most things we see and touch are mainly made of nothing.
The only reason they seem tangible is that they reflect the light, and they interfere with the atoms in our bodies.
Edited by dilbert on Friday 22 August 03:32
Wiki says;
In physics, a quantum (plural: quanta) is an indivisible entity of a quantity that has the same units as the Planck constant and is related to both energy and momentum of elementary particles of matter (called fermions) and of photons and other bosons.
Simple, init.
In physics, a quantum (plural: quanta) is an indivisible entity of a quantity that has the same units as the Planck constant and is related to both energy and momentum of elementary particles of matter (called fermions) and of photons and other bosons.
Simple, init.
Edited by Tonto on Friday 22 August 03:39
Even the people who should know, aren't sure...
* For those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
o Niels Bohr, quoted in Heisenberg, Werner (1971). Physics and Beyond, 206, New York: Harper and Row.
* I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.
o Richard Feynman, in The Character of Physical Law (1965)
* For those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.
o Niels Bohr, quoted in Heisenberg, Werner (1971). Physics and Beyond, 206, New York: Harper and Row.
* I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.
o Richard Feynman, in The Character of Physical Law (1965)
anhamgrimmar said:
Stuff gets weird when you look at it REALLY closely
In a nutshell.
ks.
It's sometimes pointless trying to visualise quantum concepts as there's no everyday equivalent to draw on, such as when a QM system gets into a non-classical state where complex (imaginary) numbers are needed to describe things mathematically. Not being able to visualise or conceptualise it isn't quite the same thing as not understanding it, as behaviour may still be described, predicted, and tested.
Think of it like Fraggle Rock.
From Sprockets POV the subterranean world is populated by Fraggles such as Gobo and Red and Boober. These are analagous to matter, light and Newtonian physics from our POV.
However on a much, much smaller scale the work and fabric of Fraggle Rock is actually held together and propagated by Doozers much in the same way as in our world quantumy bit is made up of veeery small things like bosons, gluons and neutrinos and stuff.
From Sprockets POV the subterranean world is populated by Fraggles such as Gobo and Red and Boober. These are analagous to matter, light and Newtonian physics from our POV.
However on a much, much smaller scale the work and fabric of Fraggle Rock is actually held together and propagated by Doozers much in the same way as in our world quantumy bit is made up of veeery small things like bosons, gluons and neutrinos and stuff.
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