EnBW
Hello
I just finished a year of Introductory Physics at my university. As the book ends with a brief introductory unit on quantum physics, Im left wanting more. Can you please recommend a book that discusses the common interpretations of quantum mechanics? Ive taken calculus and a year of physics, but other than that I am a layman. (although in my own reading Ive come to learn words like nonlocality, superliminal, deterministic, etc)
thanks so much
Dylan
Also Ive read the wiki entries on the common interpretations, but im looking for something more in-depth (although not too math heavy)
superluminal*
Answer
-http://books.google.co.in/books?id=OWb51FH6gtkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+common+interpretations+of+quantum+mechanics&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xM6JUZjzKYPIrQeKqIGADQ&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20common%20interpretations%20of%20quantum%20mechanics&f=false
-http://books.google.co.in/books?id=Z5_awfuGzC8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+common+interpretations+of+quantum+mechanics+in+deep&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Kc-JUYLNAdDJrAe62IDIDw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
-http://books.google.co.in/books?id=1lqzqgB0OZwC&pg=PA192&dq=the+common+interpretations+of+quantum+mechanics+in+deep&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fc-JUYjkItHOrQe_-oDgDQ&ved=0CF4Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=the%20common%20interpretations%20of%20quantum%20mechanics%20in%20deep&f=false
hope it will help u
-http://books.google.co.in/books?id=OWb51FH6gtkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+common+interpretations+of+quantum+mechanics&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xM6JUZjzKYPIrQeKqIGADQ&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20common%20interpretations%20of%20quantum%20mechanics&f=false
-http://books.google.co.in/books?id=Z5_awfuGzC8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+common+interpretations+of+quantum+mechanics+in+deep&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Kc-JUYLNAdDJrAe62IDIDw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
-http://books.google.co.in/books?id=1lqzqgB0OZwC&pg=PA192&dq=the+common+interpretations+of+quantum+mechanics+in+deep&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fc-JUYjkItHOrQe_-oDgDQ&ved=0CF4Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=the%20common%20interpretations%20of%20quantum%20mechanics%20in%20deep&f=false
hope it will help u
Best explanation of quantum mechanics?
Ethan
Maybe one that applies theory to everyday human concepts and experiences. Book or article preferred.
Anyone have suggestions? Thanks!
Answer
Quantum mechanics is the true nature of reality, you experience quantum mechanics every second of every day. The very atoms you are made of are governed by quantum mechanics. "Quantum" simply means very small, in essence. Once one gets down to the scale of atoms and subatomic particls, one is in the quantum realm. "Mechanics" is how things work together and interact, so quantum mechanics is the study of how things (forces and the like) work together at the quantum level. But it doesn't stop there, there is something fundementally strange about quantum mechanics, and it is called the Quantum Measurement Problem. In fact, it is so strange, that no one can fully understand it. I can't, you can't, physics professors can't, and even the physicists from the early twentieth century that devoloped it (such as Heisenberg, Schroedinger, Bohr, Maxwell, de Brogile, and Dirac just to name a few) can't. So why can no one really understand QM? Again, this is known as the Quantum Measurement Problem., but at the root of the problem and QM itself, is the Heisenber Uncertainty Priniple. In essence, it says that you cannot know the velocity of something if you know the position and vice versa. It is a very simple principle. Just think about it. If something is moving (has velocity) then you cannot know the position with certainty because the position is constantly changing, and if you know the position with certainty, then if has no velocity to even measure.This very simple principle has profound implications. If you've ever had a basic chemistry class, I'm sure you've heard of the electron cloud. But what is it, really? Take, for example, a hydrogen atom, which has only one electron orbiting the nucleus. This atom, even though it only has one electron, has an electron cloud. Doesn't really make much sense does it? Well it would be better to call it an electron PROBABILITY cloud. Anywhere in the "cloud", there is a chance the electron could be there. And this is where the Quantum Measurement Problem comes in. The electron could be anywhere until you observe the electron. Then there is no chance the electron could be anywhere else other then where you observe it to be. But before you observed it, it could have been anywere. (An interesting thing to note is that the electron cloud (also known as a probability wave, or a wavefuntion) does not exist just around the atom, it extends throughout the universe, through all of space and time, so there is a chance, however small, that the electron could be in the Andromeda galaxy, over 2000000 light years away!) This might be easier for laymen to understand by applying QM to large tangible things we experience in everyday life. Ever heard of Schroedinger's Cat? It was a thought experiment developed by Erwin Shroedinger in the early twentieth century. Imagine a cat in a box, with a vial of poison that could randomly shatter and kill the cat. Well, according to QM, the cat is LITERALLY both dead and alive before being observed, Keep in mind this box has to be completely isolated from the outside world, a closed system. So, the cat is both dead AND alive (and here's the kicker!) until it is observed to be either dead OR alive! This simple act of observation and measurement cause the cat to become either dead or alive, instead of both, as it was before being observed. That is the Quantum Measurement Problem. In more advanced terms, why does the wavefuntion of a system collapse, or decohere, into a single quantum state upon being observed? In laymens terms, why does this dead/alive cat (the quantum system) become either dead or alive (each a quantum state) upon being observed? No one knows! This is the Quantum Measurement Problem! Yet it is one of the most basic and fundemental aspects of quantum mechanics. Why is this important, you may ask? Well QM is on eof the most supported theories in all of science. It has upheld itself in every singe experiment ever performed on it (to the best of my knowledge), and yet it's most fundemental aspect is a complete mystery. QM leads to all sorts of other crazy things as well, but however odd and strange and untrue these things seem, they are true and all experimentally verified, we just don't notice them in everyday life simply because we are too large for the effects to be noticable, but they are there nonetheless. Another very strange thing about QM is that is says that ALL possible wavefuntions are realized. In more simple terms, everything that can happen, WILL happen given enough time. In the Many Worlds Interpretation of QM, wavefuntions never actually collapse. We are just simply existing in one of an infinite number of universes each with a different comination of wavefunctions. To understand this, imagine a rack of billiards being broken in a game of 8-ball. When the cue ball hits the rack, all the balls go in certain directions. This is untrue, however. When the cue ball hits the rack, every single combination of different directions that the balls could go DOES happen, simultaniously, but in different universes! And we only see one of them happen because we exist in only one universe, so we only see on of these different scenerios happen.
Hopefully I enlightened you a little.
Sorry for any typing errors, as I have no time to proofread.
Cheers!
Quantum mechanics is the true nature of reality, you experience quantum mechanics every second of every day. The very atoms you are made of are governed by quantum mechanics. "Quantum" simply means very small, in essence. Once one gets down to the scale of atoms and subatomic particls, one is in the quantum realm. "Mechanics" is how things work together and interact, so quantum mechanics is the study of how things (forces and the like) work together at the quantum level. But it doesn't stop there, there is something fundementally strange about quantum mechanics, and it is called the Quantum Measurement Problem. In fact, it is so strange, that no one can fully understand it. I can't, you can't, physics professors can't, and even the physicists from the early twentieth century that devoloped it (such as Heisenberg, Schroedinger, Bohr, Maxwell, de Brogile, and Dirac just to name a few) can't. So why can no one really understand QM? Again, this is known as the Quantum Measurement Problem., but at the root of the problem and QM itself, is the Heisenber Uncertainty Priniple. In essence, it says that you cannot know the velocity of something if you know the position and vice versa. It is a very simple principle. Just think about it. If something is moving (has velocity) then you cannot know the position with certainty because the position is constantly changing, and if you know the position with certainty, then if has no velocity to even measure.This very simple principle has profound implications. If you've ever had a basic chemistry class, I'm sure you've heard of the electron cloud. But what is it, really? Take, for example, a hydrogen atom, which has only one electron orbiting the nucleus. This atom, even though it only has one electron, has an electron cloud. Doesn't really make much sense does it? Well it would be better to call it an electron PROBABILITY cloud. Anywhere in the "cloud", there is a chance the electron could be there. And this is where the Quantum Measurement Problem comes in. The electron could be anywhere until you observe the electron. Then there is no chance the electron could be anywhere else other then where you observe it to be. But before you observed it, it could have been anywere. (An interesting thing to note is that the electron cloud (also known as a probability wave, or a wavefuntion) does not exist just around the atom, it extends throughout the universe, through all of space and time, so there is a chance, however small, that the electron could be in the Andromeda galaxy, over 2000000 light years away!) This might be easier for laymen to understand by applying QM to large tangible things we experience in everyday life. Ever heard of Schroedinger's Cat? It was a thought experiment developed by Erwin Shroedinger in the early twentieth century. Imagine a cat in a box, with a vial of poison that could randomly shatter and kill the cat. Well, according to QM, the cat is LITERALLY both dead and alive before being observed, Keep in mind this box has to be completely isolated from the outside world, a closed system. So, the cat is both dead AND alive (and here's the kicker!) until it is observed to be either dead OR alive! This simple act of observation and measurement cause the cat to become either dead or alive, instead of both, as it was before being observed. That is the Quantum Measurement Problem. In more advanced terms, why does the wavefuntion of a system collapse, or decohere, into a single quantum state upon being observed? In laymens terms, why does this dead/alive cat (the quantum system) become either dead or alive (each a quantum state) upon being observed? No one knows! This is the Quantum Measurement Problem! Yet it is one of the most basic and fundemental aspects of quantum mechanics. Why is this important, you may ask? Well QM is on eof the most supported theories in all of science. It has upheld itself in every singe experiment ever performed on it (to the best of my knowledge), and yet it's most fundemental aspect is a complete mystery. QM leads to all sorts of other crazy things as well, but however odd and strange and untrue these things seem, they are true and all experimentally verified, we just don't notice them in everyday life simply because we are too large for the effects to be noticable, but they are there nonetheless. Another very strange thing about QM is that is says that ALL possible wavefuntions are realized. In more simple terms, everything that can happen, WILL happen given enough time. In the Many Worlds Interpretation of QM, wavefuntions never actually collapse. We are just simply existing in one of an infinite number of universes each with a different comination of wavefunctions. To understand this, imagine a rack of billiards being broken in a game of 8-ball. When the cue ball hits the rack, all the balls go in certain directions. This is untrue, however. When the cue ball hits the rack, every single combination of different directions that the balls could go DOES happen, simultaniously, but in different universes! And we only see one of them happen because we exist in only one universe, so we only see on of these different scenerios happen.
Hopefully I enlightened you a little.
Sorry for any typing errors, as I have no time to proofread.
Cheers!
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