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Oh tell me about it. Quantum mechanics is just nuts. And if you think the normal stuff is bad, try reading up on Foam Theory et al; guaranteed to make you wish
by sho 17y ago
Oh tell me about it. Quantum mechanics is just nuts. And if you think the normal stuff is bad, try reading up on Foam Theory et al; guaranteed to make you wish you had been born a duck or something and had never even heard of science.
However, the point I was trying to make was - (almost) too small to measure is just so, but in vast quantities becomes significant. And everything's like that really, it's just a matter of degree. What "classical" physics would call an atom is treated as more of a probability field these days. This seems to be the same thing, just with the probability turned way down!
- DanielBMarkham 17y agoYou understand the quandary, right? I mean, it's one thing to say an electron really exists as a probability cloud and not some little particle, that it collapses into a particle. It's not there, but it's "in there" somewhere. Even electron tunneling is understandable: the electron is kind of in this "smear" and sometimes that smear can cross barriers. It's quite another thing once the cloud reaches the boundaries of the universe, and the particle can pass through a solar system and still not be affected. It's everywhere, it's nowhere. It's huge, it's small. We've got all the classical bits of silliness in there.
- sho 17y agoWell, what can I say? That's reality for you. "Collapsing" is just a convenient shortcut for calculation/conceptualisation purposes but never actually happens IRL. In fact the whole "classical" construct you mention is just that; nothing but a convenient oversimplification. It's crazy all right, but exciting too. Personally I can't wait until we can harness these new understandings for technological advancement; somehow using neutrinos for communications, for example.