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----------------------- # 1606 - Weird Science - Real Science?
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- We should be able to explain “ reality” - the world we observe and perceive - by summing all the smallest constituent parts. The whole ought to be the sum of the parts.
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- This idea does not seem to work in the Quantum World. For the smallest parts weird science happens. Particles do not have a definite position in space. The particle can be in several places at once with different probabilities of finding it at any one place. Weird?
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- Particles in different locations can somehow be connected. Called “ entanglement”. These particles could have opposite spins and be entangled. They could be separated by galactic distances and still be entangled. Say one electron is spinning clockwise then the other entangled electron is spinning counter-clockwise. Called spin up and spin down. Reverse the spin on either one and the other entangled electron reverses its spin, instantaneously.
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- Instantaneously means faster than the speed of light. This happens all the time inside an atom. If two electrons share the same energy level. The Exclusion Principle prohibits them from sharing the same “quantum state“. So one spins up and the other spins down. If one reverses the other reverses instantly. They are entangled, connected. Not so weird inside an atom. But, separate these two entangled electrons over any distance and they remain instantaneously connected. Weird?
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- How can particles not physically connected somehow reach other particles? Called “ non-locality”.
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- An Irish physicist, John S. Bell, in 1964 took the position that non-locality was real. Nearly all of the physics community disagreed with him at the time. In fact, the accepted Theory of Relativity postulated that it was impossible to transmit information faster than the speed of light. “ Instantaneously” in non-locality therefore could not possibly occur.
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- Erin Schrodinger introduced the “ wave function” into quantum thinking. All particles are waves, or become waves. All waves can become particles. Wave functions can infer the possibility of entanglement and particles having indefinite position at various places. Waves can extend across space and be continuously connected.
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- Today the question still exists. Is the wave function for particles a concrete physical object. Or, is it simply mathematics that describes relationships among spatial points?
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- Maybe 3-dimensional space is our locality. And, higher dimensions exist allowing non-locality to exist that we can never see? Maybe?
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- Some physics even proposes a myriad of unseen parallel universes to exist allowing non-locality to be present - instant action at a distance through a parallel universe.
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- Does science continually transcend the familiar and reveal a new horizon? An new reality?
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- Engineers today routinely exert control over the quantum world. It is not a mystery, if it always works. They disregard the barriers of superposition, entanglement , randomness, deciphered, non-locality and quantum uncertainty. All the weirdness in the quantum is part of our real world. ( See footnotes for descriptions of each of these weird attributes).
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- Transistors in computers, give way to integrated circuits, and these will give way to individual atoms that will do the job of calculating bits and controlling software applications. A computer logic bit can be represented by an electron in the ground state or in the first higher energy state. A “ zero” or a “ one”. A laser pulse of the exact energy level can change the electrons energy state. It can be in one state or the other state or weirder still in both states at once.
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- The electron in an atom can be delocalized in position and velocity, but, at the same time have a well-defined energy state. Each energy state can be defined as a “ Quantum Bit”. It is not weird if it works.
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- Schrodinger’s equations described the different histories of a particle as alternatives, but, as all really happening simultaneously. Physical quantities really do take on more than one value at one time.
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- Science is like the Theory of “Relativity”. No two observers can agree on when simultaneous events occur. To every observer it is all relative. Weird science or Real science?
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- “ Weird starts with the “ wave-particle duality”.. All particles are waves. A baseball traveling at 90 miles per hour is a wave. The wavelength is equal to :
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---------------------- Wavelength = Planck’s Constant of Action / Momentum
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- Momentum is mass times velocity. The massive particle baseball has a wavelength the width of a proton. A good batter would not be too distracted to where he can not still hit it.
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------------------------- w = h / p
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- The wavelength of an electron is much, much large compared to the size of the electron as a particle. Its position or its velocity can not be precisely known. The exact properties in space and momentum are values collapsed upon observation according to a distribution of probabilities.
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- Quantum Superposition states that a physical particle exists partly in all of its possible states simultaneously. When observed it collapses, decoherence, into only one of those possible states.
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- Schrodinger equation is a partial differential equation that descries how quantum energy states can change with time. The equation describes a wave function. The wave function will collapse to a sharply peaked function at some location upon observation.
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- The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that the more certain we are of position of a particle the less certain we can be of the velocity ( momentum) of the particle, and vise-versa. The product of the two probability values will always be greater than the Planck’s Constant of Action / 2 * pi. Observers can measure one property accurately or the other but never both simultaneously. Planck’s Constant of Action is a very small number, 6.6*10^-34 joule-seconds.
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- We do not get a description of objective reality but only probabilities of observing ,or measuring , various aspects of energy in quantum packets. Energy quanta do not fit our ideas of particles, now our ideas of waves. It’s both. It’s weird.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email upon request. Some reviews are at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ---- “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, -- 707-536-3272 Monday, November 11, 2013
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