In Her Shell
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
  Wednesday is Quantum Physics Day
Today I will take a complicated principle of a complicated field, oversimplify it, and make it all about me. Ready?

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
"One of the basic ideas behind quantum theory/physics/mechanics is the H.U.C. It states, more or less, that the more you know about one aspect of a subatomic particle, the less you can know about the other. This means the more you know about the velocity of a particle, the less you can possibly know about its position."

So just when you figure out one thing--say, how fast a particle is moving or in which direction--you realize that in doing so you have completely lost sight of something else that is key to understanding that particle. Like, say, where it is.

Can I possibly know where I am and where I am going, simultaneously? I can't even change the radio station and watch the road at the same time. Damn you, Heisenberg!

On the other hand, knowing about this when I was going through my post-college navel-gazing quarter-life crisis would have been extremely comforting. Of course, had I majored in Physics instead of Television and Theatre Production, perhaps I wouldn't have been living in an armpit and answering phones for lousy jerks.
 
Comments:
No, you would have been toiling away in graduate school working on some sort of mildly-irrelevant minute aspect of theoretical physcis that could never be proven and would only ever prepare you for a career as a college physics professor creating more graduate students thus perpetuating the cycle. At least as a TTP major you got to see John Stewart from afar at a Christmas party and live in New York for a few years.
 
Agreed. I'm pretty sure Physics majors do not have glamorous wonderful jobs. I think a lot of them are physics teachers. :)
 
I do love Jon Stewart. You are both right, and my corporate, city-dwelling toil must have made me a stronger person. Right?
 
Love this post. Probably has a lot to do with me being a science nerd:)
 
A nerd AND a turtle? How could it get any better?
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

My Photo
Name:

In a move that seems to amuse only me, I pull lines from the blogs I hit on the Next Blog button, and arrange them into found poem form.



April 2006 / May 2006 / June 2006 / July 2006 / August 2006 / September 2006 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / January 2007 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / August 2007 / September 2007 / October 2007 / November 2007 / December 2007 / January 2008 / February 2008 / March 2008 / April 2008 / May 2008 / June 2008 / July 2008 / August 2008 / September 2008 / October 2008 / November 2008 / December 2008 / January 2009 / February 2009 / March 2009 / April 2009 / May 2009 / June 2009 / July 2009 / August 2009 / September 2009 / October 2009 / December 2009 / January 2010 / August 2010 / April 2011 /


Powered by Blogger