Nexus - 0110 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Through the he rca decades by Gerard f we have seen a series of ; The new physics of the twentieth i ific di H d ourselves, and we may learn something : A 3 scientific discoveries an Pam century is quantum mechanics, which advances revolutionize about ourselves by studying it. began with Max Planck and Albert derstandi f th Photon systems flow in a smooth, Einstein. The old physics comes from our understanding O e dynamic way which can be predicted by ° 300 years hence, founded by Isaac structure of the world what’s known as the Schroedinger wave Newton. Quantum mechanics does not and the fabric of equation. But when observed, the wave replace Newtonian physics; it includes it. the universe. collapses abruptly in a ‘Quantum Jump’, when all the possible developments of the wave become a single actuality. Since we are doing the observing we are actualising the event (the universe) and are therefore self-actualising. Schroedinger’s possibility waves were mathematically equivalent to matrix tables prepared by Werner Heisenberg to calculate probabilities. But Heisenberg’s great contribution to quantum theory was the Uncertainty Principle, which states - of the two things that can be known about a subatomic particle - it’s position, or its speed and direction - only one can be 2 PIO ed that at the But it goes beyond the Newtonian direct relationship between: theor observation, as quantum me hi result of study into the invisible subatomic universe. The difference between the atomic and subatomic level is:as gréat as ‘that between atoms and the objects we’re familiar with. We can picture an atom with its nucleus and orbiting electrons for example; if the dome of St Peter’s in the Vatican was the diameter of an atom, the nucleus would be a grain of salt suspended in the middle and the electrons about the size of dust particles. At this level Newtonian physics is inadequate and quantum mechanics is needed to explain particle behaviour. Classical physicists believed that by understanding the ‘laws of nature’ it was possible to predict future events from what was known about earlier ones. The limits on this concept were the complications _part or another of our picture’ caused by complexity, rather than the operation of the laws. that part involves blurring another. If the position ofa particle is _ In quantum mechanics there is no way to predict individual _ precisely determined, there is nothing we can know about its events. It concems itself with group behayiour; it can tell us momentum. The significance of the Uncertainty Principle is about how a group of particles will behave but only how an that, at the subatomic level, we cannot observe something individual particle will probably behay: Probability is the without changing it The reason we know nothing about a major characteristic of quantum mechanic the statistical particle's momentum ‘when we locate it is because its direction description of the behaviour of systems: hat is it that and speed have been changed by our observation (or by the quantum mechanics describes? Ses gamma rays used to ‘see’ the electron). Heisenberg wrote; ‘In 1927 a group of physicists met 1 that question. “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our Their answer was that it does notmatter whatitis describing; the method of questioning.” important thing is that it works in experimental situations. Truth The average life of a neutron is 918 seconds, and mesons is not absolute in this system, but the measure ofhow-consistent range from billionths to quintillionths of a second. These something is with our experiences, For the first-time, scientists subatomic particles are what the universe is made of, but these were forced by their own findings to it that'a complete —_ are not ‘made of’ energy, they are energy. Einstein theorised in understanding was beyond the capabilt es of rational thought. 1905... subatomic interactions are of energy with energy - at Einstein didn’t accept this idea and argued againstitfor the rest the subatomic level the dancer and the dance are one. IEE A of his life. Einstein used Planck’s conc ,or energy Subatomic interactions are studied in particle accelerators, in packets, to prove the existence of thé photon'‘and begin the — which use one particle to shatter another particle to see what the unfolding of quantum theory. remains are made of. Because particles have such short lifespans Photons are elementary particles that ‘exist within the — what is actually studied are photographs of their tracks through relationships between other particles, in a web of relationships _ abubble chamber. A photo of particle interaction shows the new between elements whose meaning comes from their particles created from the originals plus particles created by the relationship to the whole. The particle world is organic, like energy of the.accelerated particle. Through the last two decades we have seen a series of scientific discoveries and advances revolutionize our understanding of the structure of the world and the fabric of the universe. by Gerard Nexus *10