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RE: [RC] Are the LD's feeding 50's? - Smith, DaveTruman: "Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle?," "Plank Length?," "Quantum Steps"??? Huh???!* To paraphrase an old cowboy I once knew, "with all this manure, there's got to be a pony in there somewhere!" -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Truman Prevatt Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 8:44 AM To: Sisu West Ranch Cc: ridecamp Subject: Re: [RC] Are the LD's feeding 50's? Sisu West Ranch wrote: "...To paraphrase Steve Weinberg, Nobel Laureate in physics, causality requires faith and more rightly belongs in the regime of religion...." Except when I enjoy the use of modern solid state electronics, classical mechanics works fine for my life. I guess that is what mean by knowing what causes something. Truman is right in the strict sense. If you take something as simple as the orbit of the earth around the sun, you can actually quantize the classical equations and determine a Schrodinger's equation to describe the physics (anything you can describe classically can be quantized into a description by Schrodinger's equation). It turns out the equation has an discrete (infinite) set of energy states and levels. That means that the orbit can only be in one state and it has to be in one of those states similar to an electron around the nucleus of the Hydrogen atom. The classical answer is the orbit distance can be any value in a continuum not just a discrete set of values. It, however, turns out the adjacent energy states (and energy levels) are so close together that they approach the "Plank Length" the smallest possible distance between two states which means it is impossible ( becasuse of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle) to tell that it wasn't a continuum. That is for all practical purposes the classical answer was sufficient. The fact that there is a Plank length (or minimal length be it only 10^-35 meters) implies the physical world is not a continuum but composed of quantum steps. This exercise had more to do with punishing poor students than any practical use. But there are a lot of effects which are at the backbone of our modern technology that require more than classical thinking and where the effect we see is the statistical average of the motion of many particles electrons - our PC's for example. To make this endurance related - it was something we all had to endure. The closest I have come to a quantum event recently was when I found a poor pony on a rural road near here about a week ago. He had somehow leaked out of his pasture and could not get back in. I had to open the gate (lower the potential energy barrier) to let him back in. He seemed grateful. We all enjoy the benefits of "tunnel diodes" - but is the first time I have heard of a "tunneling horse" ;-) . Truman -- "Ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test of experience." Albert Einstein =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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