Can someone explain quantum physics?

[Grissom]

There are some good things on the web to read, but as Richard Feynman said 'I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics' so its best not to try !!! :

 

Really simple guide : http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_physics

 

Laymans guide (read after the first one) : http://higgo.com/quantum/laymans.htm

 

Videos explaining quantum physics - made relatively simple - pretty good history of it all : http://bethe.cornell.edu/video1.html (love the hair in video 2 !)

[Pingpang]

not all of the following words are mine - i've cut & pasted some from different articles & websites

 

basically science has had several generally accepted models of the universe over the last few hundred years

 

in the 17th century issac newton came up with a load of equations that can be used to predict how "things" interact physically, eg what will happen if a moving snooker ball hits a still one - but the thing is, his equations only work as long as the things we use the equations on don't get too big, too small, or too fast

 

We still tend to depict the universe as a huge mechanical system , running according to Newton's laws of motion. These laws held firm the ideas of absolute time and space. Everything could be described objectively. Newtonian laws ruled our thinking from the late 17th through the 18th, and the 19th century. Much of our basic lives are still managed by this outmoded system of thought

 

The present scientific view of reality currently supports the idea that we are composed of energy fields, and presents a holographic view of the universe. In this universe all things are interconnected.

 

In the early 1800's, Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell proposed a new type of physical electromagnetic phenomena that could not be described by Newtonian physics. This lead to the concept of a field, which was described as a condition in space that has the potential of producing a force. Each charge creates a disturbance or a condition around it, so that the other charge, if present, feels the force. Thus their Field Theory; the concept of a universe filled with fields that create forces that interact with one another.

 

In 1905, Albert Einstein shattered the Newtonian world view. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity says that space and time form a fourth dimensional continuum, space-time." Also, his theory holds that time is relative; not linear, and not absolute. Two observers will order events differently in time if they are moving at different velocities in relation to the observed events. All measurements of time and space lose their absolute significance. Both now become elements to help describe a phenomenon.

 

In 1920, physicists asked nature a question, and nature answered with a paradox. Physicists somehow knew that paradox is part of the intrinsic nature of the subatomic world. So they set up an experiment which proves that light is a particle. A small change in the experiment then proved that light is a wave. We thus moved into a universe based on the concept of both/and; rather than the old idea of either/or.

 

Physicists found that particles can simultaneously be both waves and particles. In effect, they are saying there is really no such thing as a thing. What they used to call things, are really events or paths that might become events. The universe is thus defined as a world of wave-like patterns of interconnectedness, a dynamic web of inseparable energy patterns, a dynamic, inseparable whole that always includes the observer. We are not separated parts from the whole. We are the whole.

 

Superluminal Theory

In 1964, J.S.Bell published Bell's Theorem, which mathematically supports the concept that subatomic particles are connected in some way that transcends time and space. Anything that happens to one particle affects all other particles. This effect is immediate or superluminal. Einstein said that nothing travels faster than the speed of light. However, Bell's superluminal theorem is supported by experimentation. With Bell, we are now going beyond Einstein and beyond the wave/particle theory. As we learn how this instantaneous connectedness works, we might learn to be consciously aware of our instantaneous connection to one another and to the universe.

 

Our Newtonian world of solid concrete objects is surrounded and permeated by a fluid world of radiating energy. It is constantly moving and changing; an ocean of dancing, spinning, flashing particles of light, energy, and information. Our linear way of thinking, seeing, and expressing, needs to expand to accommodate this new reality.

 

 

Holographic Theory

The works of Pribram and Bohm combine to theorize that , "Our brains mathematically construct 'concrete' reality by interpreting frequencies from another dimension, a realm of meaningful, patterned primary reality that transcends time and space. The brain is a hologram, interpreting a holographic universe." (The Holographic Paradigm, by Ken Wilber 1982)

 

For if the concreteness of the world is but a secondary reality and what is "there" is actually a holographic blur of frequencies, and if the brain is also a hologram and only selects some of the frequencies out of this blur and mathematically transforms them into sensory perceptions, what becomes of objective reality? Put quite simply, it ceases to exist. As the religions of the East have long upheld, the material world is Maya, an illusion , and although we may think we are physical beings moving through a physical world, this too is an illusion.

 

 

We are really "receivers" floating through a kaleidoscopic sea of frequency, and what we extract from this sea and transform into our perception of "physical reality" is but one channel from many extracted out of the superhologram.

[Phanerothyme]

There are some good things on the web to read, but as Richard Feynman said 'I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics' so its best not to try !!! :

 

Really simple guide : http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_physics

 

Laymans guide (read after the first one) : http://higgo.com/quantum/laymans.htm

 

Videos explaining quantum physics - made relatively simple - pretty good history of it all : http://bethe.cornell.edu/video1.html (love the hair in video 2 !)

 

from both of those this passage stands out as exemplifying the brainsplattering ramifications of a theory that is true - else we wouldn't have computers, TVs, radios electronics etc.

 

you have to believe one of the following things:

 

Your consciousness affects the behaviour of subatomic particles

 

- or -

 

Particles move backwards as well as forwards in time and appear in all possible places at once

 

- or -

 

The universe is splitting, every Planck-time (10 E-43 seconds) into billions of parallel universes

 

- or -

 

The universe is interconnected with faster-than-light transfers of information

My money is on the first one. The universe is structured around information not matter. That is significant.

[Bago]

Okay, this is my attempt at decoding it into layman terms of the basic "idea" of it. I can't say theory, since I'm not sure what they are currently.

 

If you cut any object and split it again and again, until you have the smallest particle, you get an atom. You can view an atom by strong microscopes.

 

However, if you split an atom and want to look inside it, I don't think you can see it. Smallest particle inside an atom are (by guess work), electrons, protons, and neutrons. With negative electrical charges, positive electrical charges, and no charges respectively. These particles are the smallest particles known to man, and it is widely accepted as scientifically true. Its existence are proven by experiments. However, I don't think you can see the electron, proton, or neutron by the most powerful microscope.

 

Now, Quantum Physics is about the interactions of these sub-particles, (if they are indeed particles), inside the proton and neutron. (I think this is right, cos both of these have a mass, whereas an electron has no mass, but just a charge.)

 

Quantum physics is about how these particles (known as 'quarks' ?) bump into each other, and how they interact to produces the effect that is seen inside an atom. I think theories in this area is still being debated, and scientifically proven. i.e. how fast they are, how they move, when do they move, which direction do they move etc etc etc

[Pingpang]

from both of those this passage stands out as exemplifying the brainsplattering ramifications of a theory that is true - else we wouldn't have computers, TVs, radios electronics etc.

 

 

My money is on the first one. The universe is structured around information not matter. That is significant.

 

i'd say 1 yes 2 yes 3 nah 4 yes

 

like i've got any idea at all lol

[Chumley]

I know this isn't helpful, but some of the stuff on here makes that "Evolution True or Fib?" thread look like an informed debate

[Pingpang]

Okay, this is my attempt at decoding it into layman terms of the basic "idea" of it. I an't say idea, since I'm not sure what they are currently.

 

If you cut any object and split it again and again, until you have the smallest particle, you get an atom. You can view an atom by strong microscopes.

 

However, if you split an atom and want to look inside it, I don't think you can see it. Smallest particle inside an atom are (by guess work), electrons, protons, and neutrons. With negative electrical charges, positive electrical charges, and no charges respectively. These particles are the smallest particles known to man, and it is widely accepted as scientifically true. Its existence are proven by experiments. However, I don't think you can see the electron, proton, or neutron by the most powerful microscope.

 

Now, Quantum Physics is about the interactions of these sub-particles, (if they are indeed particles), inside the proton and neutron. (I think this is right, cos both of these have a mass, whereas an electron has no mass, but just a charge.)

 

Quantum physics is about how these particles (known as 'quarks' ?) bump into each other, and how they interact to produces the effect that is seen inside an atom. I think theories in this area is still being debated, and scientifically proven. i.e. how fast they are, how they move, when do they move, which direction do they move etc etc etc

 

my dear bago - did you read my above post?

 

you seem to have an incredibly creative talent for guessing about science and talking some wonderfully garbled chat

[Pingpang]

I know this isn't helpful, but some of the stuff on here makes that "Evolution True or Fib?" thread look like an informed debate

 

wot's the problem? i laid out the main accepted theories of physics from the last few hundred years nice and simply for ya

 

we can work the evolution truth or fib debate in here too if you like

 

start by reading up on morphogenetic field theory and then get back to us

[Bago]

my dear bago - did you read my above post?

 

you seem to have an incredibly creative talent for guessing about science and talking some wonderfully garbled chat

What, it is a good layman description. I answered the question directly at least, whereas you went waaaaay indepth, and missed the question totally. Btw, he dosn't want an essay on the history of Physics per se.

 

Nil points !

 

Quantum physics, also known as Quantum Mechanics are similar topics about sub-particles interactions.

[Pingpang]

What, it is a good layman description. I answered the question directly at least, whereas you went waaaaay indepth, and missed the question totally. Btw, he dosn't want an essay on the history of Physics per se.

 

Nil points !

 

Quantum physics, also known as Quantum Mechanics are similar topics about sub-particles interactions.

 

flippin eck woman, sorry, no offense intended, but it's you've not given a good lay description - it's pants - you haven't got much idea at all about this subject have u?

 

saying i went way in depth proves this - i hardly scratched the surface

 

fairy nuff, we each have our strengths, but your explanation was a case of the partially sighted leading the blind

 

i didn't give him an essay on the history of physics

 

i gave a brief and general overview of how our models of and insight into the universe have changed - in plain english, no equations

 

to understand the quantum model more fully, and how it's been developed, it helps to have a bit of context, which i provided

 

it's hardly a subject that can be explained in a few sentences

 

and not a subject that i claim to fully understand (not even the top physicists claim that)

 

ok, it's a (relatively) free forum, post wot u like, but waffle like yours on this subject didn't help anyone understand anything

 

what would have been more helpful, rather than saying "i think" when you haven't got much idea about the subject, would be to actually look into it and see wot the academics who know about this kinda stuff think, then condense those ideas into a post

 

sorry but there u go

 

and i'm aware that i didn't use the word quantum in my post - i am aware tho that if someone reads and digests my post, they will have an idea of what quantum physics concerns