Quantum Physics
Basics and some implications
Posted by aplecompte on August 12th, 2009
When you see a star at night what is really going on? Newton would answer that you are seeing the star. Einstein would say that you are seeing the star as it was in a past epoch, since light travels with finite velocity and takes time to cross space; to see the star "as it is right now" has no meaning since there is no way to make such an observation.
A quantum philosopher, however, would answer that you are not seeing the star at all. The star sets up a condition that extends throughout space and time--an electromagnetic field. What you "see" as a star, is actually the result of a quantum interaction between the local field and the retina of your eye. Energy is being absorbed from the field by your eye, and the local field is being modified as a result. You can interpret your observation as pertaining to a distant object if you wish, or concentrate strictly on local field effects.
Our everyday experience establishes preconceptions that fail drastically when experience is extended to the very massive or to the very small. Generally, the large scale requires relativity theory and the small scale requires quantum mechanics. A quantum is an indivisible entity. At this level the usual picture of reality breaks down. Quantum physics deals with "Nature as She is—absurd." (Richard Feynman, author of QED)
Photons (discrete units of light) and other very small things are neither waves nor particles. Emitters of photons such as lights have spectra, but the spectra are chopped up instead of being continuous. The energies carried by photons form a discontinuous and color-coded series. The energies, the colors, and the spectral intensities of electromagnetic radiation produced are all interconnected by laws. But the same laws ordain that the more closely one pins down one measure the more wildly another measure relating to the same thing must fluctuate! Even more disconcerting, particles can be created as twins and therefore as entangled entities--which means that doing something that pins down one characteristic of one particle will determine something about its entangled twin even if it is millions of miles away. (Wikipedia)
The smallest sub-atomic particles are energy, and they are all the same. Atoms are not things; they are only potentials. Particles and waves behave differently yet particles fired through slits can then behave like waves.
Some possible conclusions:
- Quantum “superposition” states that a particle can be in more than one place at one time. Hence, time and space really have no bearing.
- In experiments, particles appear where the mind of the scientist expects them to appear, and the act of observing changes the particles. Hence, there really is no objective reality.
- Quantum “entanglement” describes a system in which the quantum states of two particles are linked together such that changes to one particle influence its counterpart, even if the particles are light years apart. Hence, everything is really connected.
- Each person perceives through a unique personal filter, hence all of consciousness is subjective.
- There must be a higher state of mind.
I have uploaded an explanation of some important quantum ideas.
For a deeper look at the implications see the movie What The Bleep, read about it in The Moviewatcher's Guide to Enlightenment and also in The Movie Guide Supplement, in which I have added more of David Hoffmeister's comments.
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