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To: James C. Bennett; Theophilus

HAHAHAHAHA no.

Sorry James, Heisenberg says you’re wrong about the nature of that problem.


267 posted on 01/17/2011 12:32:38 PM PST by angryoldfatman
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To: angryoldfatman

Heisenberg’s microscope

One way in which Heisenberg originally argued for the uncertainty principle is by using an imaginary microscope as a measuring device. He imagines an experimenter trying to measure the position and momentum of an electron by shooting a photon at it.

If the photon has a short wavelength, and therefore a large momentum, the position can be measured accurately. But the photon scatters in a random direction, transferring a large and uncertain amount of momentum to the electron. If the photon has a long wavelength and low momentum, the collision doesn’t disturb the electron’s momentum very much, but the scattering will reveal its position only vaguely.

If a large aperture is used for the microscope, the electron’s location can be well resolved (see Rayleigh criterion); but by the principle of conservation of momentum, the transverse momentum of the incoming photon and hence the new momentum of the electron resolves poorly. If a small aperture is used, the accuracy of the two resolutions is the other way around.

The trade-offs imply that no matter what photon wavelength and aperture size are used, the product of the uncertainty in measured position and measured momentum is greater than or equal to a lower bound, which is up to a small numerical factor equal to Planck’s constant.


272 posted on 01/17/2011 12:44:27 PM PST by James C. Bennett
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To: angryoldfatman; James C. Bennett
And I contend that we don't know much about background radiation due to issues pertaining to scale.

We can't even put our finger on why Pioneer seems to be out of position.

285 posted on 01/17/2011 2:31:37 PM PST by Theophilus (Not merely prolife, but prolific!)
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