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Uncertainty Principle: Difference between revisions
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In [[Quantum Mechanics]], the [[Uncertainty Principle]], also known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa. This is a succinct statement of the "uncertainty relation" between the position and the momentum (mass times velocity) of a subatomic particle, such as an electron. This relation has profound implications for such fundamental notions as causality and the determination of the future behavior of an atomic particle. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle Uncertainty Principle]</ref> | In [[Quantum Mechanics]], the [[Uncertainty Principle]], also known as Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa. This is a succinct statement of the "uncertainty relation" between the position and the momentum (mass times velocity) of a subatomic particle, such as an electron. This relation has profound implications for such fundamental notions as causality and the determination of the future behavior of an atomic particle. <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle Uncertainty Principle]</ref> | ||
Essentially, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is relative to the act of observation that collapses a wave potentiality that makes a situation, event or object become physical. When we observe [[EMF]] wave-forms we change the physical environment and how that is expressed in tangible ways. | '''Essentially, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is relative to the act of observation that collapses a wave potentiality that makes a situation, event or object become physical. When we observe [[EMF]] wave-forms we change the physical environment and how that is expressed in tangible ways.''' | ||
Important steps on the way to understanding the uncertainty principle are wave-particle duality and the DeBroglie hypothesis.(Suggested by De Broglie in about 1923, the path to the wavelength expression for a particle is by analogy to the momentum of a photon.) As you proceed downward in size to atomic dimensions, it is no longer valid to consider a particle like a hard sphere, '''because the smaller the dimension, the more wave-like it becomes.''' It no longer makes sense to say that you have precisely determined both the position and momentum of such a particle. When you say that the electron acts as a wave, then the wave is the quantum mechanical wavefunction and it is therefore related to the probability of finding the electron at any point in space. A perfect sinewave for the electron wave spreads that probability throughout all of space, and the "position" of the electron is completely uncertain. | Important steps on the way to understanding the uncertainty principle are wave-particle duality and the DeBroglie hypothesis.(Suggested by De Broglie in about 1923, the path to the wavelength expression for a particle is by analogy to the momentum of a photon.) As you proceed downward in size to atomic dimensions, it is no longer valid to consider a particle like a hard sphere, '''because the smaller the dimension, the more wave-like it becomes.''' It no longer makes sense to say that you have precisely determined both the position and momentum of such a particle. When you say that the electron acts as a wave, then the wave is the quantum mechanical wavefunction and it is therefore related to the probability of finding the electron at any point in space. A perfect sinewave for the electron wave spreads that probability throughout all of space, and the "position" of the electron is completely uncertain. | ||