Quantum Theory

"Quantum Theory" is simply a shorter way of saying "Everything you think you know about how anything appears, behaves or is located is completely and utterly wrong and will almost certainly always remain so. Try not to dwell on this".

Nice Answer. That about sums it up.

Best reply in awhile! More true than you know!

take a look here: http://www.whatthebleep.com/

these 'quantum' films are entertaining as well as informative, and shouldn't be too overwhelming...

hope this helps

simplified Quantum theory:

If I can measure (all the dimensions, speed and energy) of an object, I can accurately predict where it will go, how it will react to external stimulus etc. This also introduced the theories that all objects have wave like properties (which was previously thought to only be for energy.)

It is different from Einsteinian physics which is based on an external viewer and mathematically creates two dimensional math for a three dimensional universe.

It is opposite to Chaos and unpredictability theories.

Opponents to the Quantum theories claim the measurement of an object will change the objects trajectory. This leaves you with a paradox where an object will react how you predicted it if you do not measure it, but when you do measure it, it will react differently.

WHAT!? An interference pattern!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc

Hi there,

I also searched for a basic rule or concept when I first applied myself to understanding this exciting and mind altering concept. Keep going becuase in getting closer to understanding and comprehending it, you will have to form some opinions that not everyone will share with you.

There is so much material in so many different books on so many different topics including mathematics, physics, mechanics, chemistry, computing, electronics and even phylosophy and spiritualism that makes reference to and relys on the so called "quantum theorem" to justify their propositions. I believe that every person needs to do their own research from the plethora of material made available by the numerous great individuals who have aplied their minds to this topic especially in the earlier part of the 20th century.

Since you clearly use the web for research and are looking for some straight forward and unambiguaous material, try the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum

If you're looking for an easy place for you to start, this will help and then use the links within the Wikipedia site.

To simpify the concept though, I would like to put forward a thought to keep in mind while doing your research:

"Inconsistencies have been observed that have challenged deeply crucial beliefs in our understaninding of our world and universe. In order to gain a more accurate understanding, quantum physics for example, readdresses our perspectives of space and time and proposes that a change in state can occur at an atmomic level without space or time being deterministic factors in our algebraic logic."

I am not an advanced mathematician but I do enjoy knowledge and undertstanding and I have developed a layman's understanding that the basic concept is that space and time are not deterministic.

Regards,

Dylan.

As far as they go, previous postings are pretty-much spot-on for quantum-mechanics.

Quantum theory was originally something rather simpler - the observation that light propagates as waves but interacts with matter like particles whose mass (=energy) is proportional to frequency. From this duality you move towards finding a single mathematical expression that covers both behaviours. While doing this you find that the mathematics only works if matter also has wavelike properties. However, you've already been coming to the same conclusion while trying to analyse the structure of the hydrogen atom. You also observe that any measurement will modify the properties of what you are measuring, and this provides fundamental limit to your ability to know all apparent properties simultaneously. Turning to Greek philosophy, you hazard that if you cannot measure something it very likely did not exist in the first instance (Heisenberg), and it turns out that incorporating this in your theories improves the accuracy of predictions. The mathematics develops into the morass (easy to get lost in) known as Quantum Mechanics. QM also has some rules for solution (mainly for charged particles) that appear entirely arbitrary, but work. That, and its failure to handle gravity, mean that it is incomplete. That means that there will be aspects that can be used but cannot be understood - but there's still a lot that can be understood, so it's worth the effort.

OK, so where can we go from here? One way to handle QM is to forget everything you "know" and treat it as a purely mathematical and rule-based enterprise. As a largely "intuitive" worker, I find this goes against the grain; nevertheless, I recommend it as an intermediate step. As you are able to develop results, you can compare them with macroscopic measurements, and see where-and-how simpler theories (wave behaviour, particle behaviour) are close approximations to QM, and where they break down. That is a hard path, and not for the faint-hearted - but it's a bullet that has to be bitten at some point for anything but the shallowest appreciation of QM.

Finally a return towards intuition. If you look at the behaviour of fluids at and beyond the onset of turbulence, you will find effects such as vortex production that are quantised (depending on dimensions). The exact size of the quanta is variable, quite similar to QM particles. In the last few years, there has been mathematical work on 6-dimensional mathematical models that shows turbulence at just the energies and conditions that QM treats as quanta (and so far as can be judged, the same uncertainties - but this is work in progress). This idea helped me with the issue of "why quanta", although I'm nowhere near following the detail of the maths.

Fyz

Some things the quantum theory implies I think.

Energy comes in descrete packages.

All objects in motion exhibit both wave and particle behavior.

The more massive an object the more difficult to detect the wave aspect of its motion.

Could it be that light is the only thing that is stopped in our universe? Maybe its us and everything around us that moving away from light leading us to percieve it as a moving entity.

If you know better, tell me, because this has been buzzing round in my head for years.

In which direction?

perhaps joorie should help , i think it is not a concept as though

You can search wikipedia , quantum mechanics