1. What is Quantum Theory?
2. What is the Uncertainty Principle?
3. Who is Schroedingers' Cat?

Also for all of you that need better descriptions to some of the problems talked about in this page, I have arranged links to the best explainations that I have found so far. Until I can set up a website to handle this massive subject, the links will have to suffice.

Okay what exactly is Quantum Theory? I mean, apparently everyone else knows something about it, but I'm completely lost. Well, one defination that was found states that five generalizations can be made about the Quantum Theory. One of these generalizations is that energy comes in really small packets, commonly refered to as Photons. Another is something called Particle-Wave Duality. Yeah, I know....big words. We'll break them up in a little bit. The movement of the particles involved with particle-wave duality is random. It is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time. The more accurate that one measurement is known, the less accurate the other is. And finally, the atomic world is nothing like the one in which we live in.

Photons. You're thinking, "Hey, I've heard about that before...wasn't it in Chemistry or something?" Yeah, since the sciences are connected, you probably did hear about it in chemistry. But just a quick review as to what they really are, just to make sure everyone is on the same page. Einstein was working on a goofy little explaination for something called the photoelectric effect. He decided that instead the quanta ( which is pural for quantum) that Maxwell Planck (1858 - 1947) used to explain the cavity radiator problem (also known as Blackbody Radiation). I have no idea how to explain either problem to you. But Einstein, thought that instead of quantum having a mass, that they were indeed massless. So he called them photons. So now you know. Photons are nothing but small packets of energy.

Well, now about the concept behind Particle-Wave Duality. While Einstein solved the photoelectric effect, he found that light was able to act as both waves and particles. Another scientist by the name of Louis de Broglie suggested that, based on Einsteins' theory of relativity and his work on the photoelectric problem, that mass can also act as both particles and waves. De Broglie went on to prove that the amounts of orbits allowed in an atom were based according to wavelengths. This way the electron would orbit around the core of protons and neutrons guided by the wavelength. Meanwhile, the wavelength would continue on the same path around the core, reinforcing itself in what is refered to as a standing wave pattern. So, if you want nothing more than the basics, which is what is provided here, then we can say that sometimes particles will act like particles, and other times, they can act like waves.Will you believe that there is actually a technical term for this? There is...and it's called the Copenhagen Interpretation. Now, this concept is really cool...especially if you are trying to figure out a method in which to go the speed of light. You now know that in THEORY it is possible. Oh, and let me introduce you to the fellow named Louis de Broglie. The picture to the right is him.

The Uncertainty Principle. This the reason why it is physically impossible to figure out the position of a particle and the momentum of that same particle at the same time. The principle was first expressed by a man named Werner Heisenberg. The principle is actually named in his honor so it's the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. What it means in the most basic of terms is that nothing is for certain. There is always a small uncertainty that comes with it. So yes, it's the opposite of the old saying,"Anything is possible." Instead it states that anything is probable. As to the reason why it is physically impossible to find the position and momentum at the same time, that's simple. No matter what method we could use to observe an electron (a particle) We would disturb the electron. An example was the use of ultra-violet light to measure the electron's position and momentum. The ultra-violet wavelength is shorter than that of an electron, so we should be able to observe the electron, right? Unfortunately, as soon as the photons from the high energy ultra-violet waves hit the electron, the electron gains enough energy to be knocked from its orbit, thus destroying any hope of locating it, or its momentum. The problem with this principle is that not all scientists believe in it. Albert Einstein was quoted to have said,"God does not play with dice." many scientists back this statement up...but until there becomes a reasonable method for finding the exact position and momentum of a particple...it looks like God probably does exactly that.

This last section addresses something completely different. If you're new to Physics, you're probably asking yourself,"Who's Schroedinger? And what does his cat have to do with anything?" Well, let's introduce Schroedinger first...then we'll worry about the cat. "Schroedinger's wave equation does for matter waves what Newton's laws of motion do for particles in motion.¹" Basically, he revolutionized thinking of matter waves. Matter waves are the waves matter would take...according to de Broglie. Schroedinger is so special because while everyone else was talking about matrices, he came out with equations. When he was invited to Copenhagen, he found out that his waves (from the equations) were nothing like real waves. From Schroedinger's perspective, particles still performed quantum jumping from one state to another; even expressed as waves space wasn't continuous. This means that unlike our world...the atomic world is extrememly different from the one we know. So, what does Schroedinger's cat have to do with all of this? Well, Schroedinger came up with a very real demonstration of just how incomplete our physical perspective of the world through quantum physics really is. The demonstration consists of a box with a radioactive source, a Geiger counter, a bottle of cyanide, and a cat. "The detector is turned on for just long enough that there is a fifty-fifty chance that the radioactive material will decay. If the material does decay, the Geiger counter detects the particle and crushes the bottle of cyanide, killing the cat. If the material does not decay, the cat lives. To us outside the box, the time of detection is when the box is open. At that point, the wave function collapses and the cat either dies or lives. However, until the box is opened, the cat is both dead and alive.^2"

Now you know about the cat. And now you know the basics to Quantum Physics.

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