Quote:
Originally posted by StarLab@Apr 25 2004, 12:22 AM
If what you are saying is true, then why bother with QM at all if all that you receive is an estimation? In order for a theory to be valid, it has to not just have precision, but also accuracy. Don't you agree?
Does particle-wave duality apply only to photons, by the way?
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Ah, but it's a very accurate estimation! The much-talked about "uncertainties" are in almost all cases so unimaginably tiny as to have no practical effect on the results. And QM lets you calculate them in advance and predict them as perfectly as it's possible to measure them. QM (actually Quantum Electrodynamics or QED) is the most accurately tested physical theory in history (much more accurately tested and measured than general relativity for example) and has come up trumps every time. The PC you are using now depends on QM to operate, way deep down in it's chips, as do particle accelerators, X-ray machines, and smoke alarms to name just a few.
Wave-particle duality applies to EVERYTHING--matter and energy. All photons, electrons, neutrons and protons are governed by the laws of QM. Now we are finding that even quite large clumps of atoms can be made to act like waves and display other QM behaviour when they are handled and isolated properly (and cooled sufficiently) in Bose-Einstein condensates, etc. One of the most fascinating questions being pursued in experimental physics today is at what point do systems of sub-atomic particles and atoms start behaving as "classical" physical systems (e.g. footballs and satellites) instead of these weird wave-particle combinations that rule the world of the very small.