God does not play dice with the universe
Quantum mechanics
Max Planck
Heisenbergh
Interference

God does not play dice with the universe



Einstein never accepted that quantum mechanics was governed by chance. His feelings was summed up in his famous statement "God does not play dice with the universe"

Most other scientists however were willing to accept quantum mechanics because it agreed perfectly with experiment. Indeed, it has been an outstandingly successful theory and underlies merely all of modern science and technology.

It governs the behavior of transistors and integrated circuits , which are the essential components of electronic devices such as televisions and computers , and is also the basis of modern chemistry and biology.

The uncertainty principle implies that waves behaves like particles , and also that particles behave like waves. An important consequence of this is that one can observe what is called interference between two sets of waves of particles. That is to say , the crest of one set of waves may coincide with the troughs of the other set. The two sets of waves then cancel each other out rather than adding up to a stronger wave as one might expect.

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Quantum mechanics

In general , quantum mechanics does not predict a single definite result for an observation . Instead , it predicts a number of different possible outcomes and tells us how likely each of these is .Quantum mechanics therefore introduces an unavoidable element of unpredictability or randomness into science.

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Max Planck

In order to overcome the infinite rate of radiation predicted by deterministic theory , the German scientist Max Planck suggested that light , x-rays , and other waves , could only be emitted in certain packets called "quanta". The higher the frequency the more energy per quantum.

As a result , the radiation at high frequencies would be reduced , and so the rate at which the body lost energy would be finite.

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Heisenbergh

In 1926 another German scientist , Werner Heisenberg, formulated his famous uncertainty principle. Heisenberg showed that Planck's quantum hypothesis implied uncertainty in the path of the particle. In order to predict the future position and velocity of a particle, one has to be able to measure its present position and velocity accurately . The obvious way to do this is to shine light on the particle. Some of the waves of light will be scattered by the particle and this will indicate its position.(picture) However one will not be able to determine the position of the particle more accurately than the distance between the wave crest of light ,so one needs to use light of a short wavelength in order to measure the position of the particle precisely .

Now , by Planck's quantum hypothesis one can't use a arbitrarily small amount of light one has to use at least one quantum. This quantum will disturb the particle and change its velocity in a way that can't be predicted . In other words , the more accurately you try to measure the position , the less accurately you can measure its speed and vice versa.

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Interference

The uncertainty principle implies that waves behaves like particles and vice versa. An important consequence of this is that one can observe what is called interference (picture) between two sets of wave or particles. That is to say the crest of one set of waves may coincide with the troughs of the other set. The two sets of waves then cancel each other out , rather than adding up to a stronger wave as one might expect.

A familiar example of interference in the case of light is the colors that are often seen in soup bubbles. These are caused by reflection of light from the two sides of the thin film of water forming the bubble. White light consists of light waves of all different wavelength or colors . For certain wavelengths the crests of the wave reflected from one side of the soap film coincide with the troughs reflected from the other side. The colors corresponding to these wavelength are absent from the reflected light which therefor appears to be colored.

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