Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle - Science Theater 37

[BloodstoneAngel]

I took a chemistry test today and on the back of it my teacher put a comic that had two guys in a car saying "I got this new GPS it knows exactly where I am." "Does it know your speed?" "No that would violate the Heisenberg uncertainty principle." I broke out laughing. I love Chemistry :)

[Lachieh923]

is 8:05 to 8:19 the reason there is no such thing as a perfect vaccum??

[mizakzee]

Assume there is a ball tied to a pole, the pole is mounted in the ground. The pole rotates at a constant speed and swings the ball in a circle. If the speed of the ball is measured and stays constant, then speed is known. If the ball stays on the pole and moves in a circle then it can be tracked.

Both speed and position are know known. Right?

[sciencetheater]

@mizakzee No, you don't know _where_ in the circle the ball is when you know its speed... swing it faster and you know even less exactly where the ball is at any one time... make the circle too small (so it isn't really going in a circle anymore) and you'll end up with other issues in the math of the wavefunctions...

[mizakzee]

@sciencetheater I assume you're bringing actual physics into this equation where a perfectly constant speed is near impossible to sustain, and the ball or fixture would over time degrade.

I was assuming a constant speed and fixture, easy enough to plot onto a graph (where X^2+Y^2=r^2, but if this principle is meant to apply to more than atoms, I'll need a more thorough explanation, or links to a more thorough explanation.

[mizakzee]

I guess this principle doesn't apply to a stationary object that has one place and no momentum. Or is the earth's rotation then taken into account?

Also, doesn't light travel at a constant speed that if shined at a wall there will always be new light at the wall.

[sciencetheater]

@mizakzee It can be applied to things not moving, but what we're really trying to apply this to is VERY small things. Even the atoms in a stationary wall are moving due to the temperature of the wall... and at that point you apply the principle...

[mizakzee]

@sciencetheater Ahh, that makes more sense.

[waqasaps]

i cant understand its importance in chemistry can any body tell me why is this principal so valuable

[sciencetheater]

@waqasaps Because atoms are small enough to obey the uncertainty principle and have it govern their behaviors. If Hydrogen atoms didn't undergo "tunneling" from time to time in some important chemical reactions, your body chemistry would be all out of whack and you would die...

[sciencetheater]

@sciencetheater Excellent response waqasaps... one of the best examples of why the principle is so "important", (lets not have people dying on us...) This is why Hydrogen with an extra neutron (Deuterium) is so deadly to drink... it makes the Tunneling chemistry happen much slower in your body and you can die...

[aajjeee]

what about ablolute zero you know were it is and it go to zero

[sciencetheater]

@aajjeee absolute zero is where movement of atoms reach a minimum.... you can't have any less movement than absolute zero. But because of quantum effects it is only a minimum and not just no movement at all..

[kamalmichael]

love the vids... keep up the good work

[edtronic]

and you to dr Carlson

[Phacias]

I am a wave!

[KutaPuta]

What age do you think is a good age to teach children about Quantum mechanics

its really confusing for me.

but maybe a 12 year old might have a better time understanding it better than a old man like me :)

[sciencetheater]

@KutaPuta I think any time they are interested is a good point to start... you just hold back some details depending on the level of the kid. I think kids in middle school (11-13), particularly advanced ones can really enjoy the strangeness of QM. They also have the advantage at that age that nearly everything sciency is new and uniquely different....

[Lachieh923]

@sciencetheater i wish our teacher told us about stuff like this, we are still learning things like an oily chip has more energy in it when you burn it than a dry biscuit and that you can separate iron fillings from sand by waving a magnet over the top. and i am 13 yrs old