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. ¶ 4:03 PM
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. ¶ 4:03 PM
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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?
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