Arsip Piksi-L

[Ikhlasul Amal <ikhlasulamal @ somewhere.in.the.world>]

Ada tulisan jenaka yang menarik tentang suami-isteri dilihat dari Fisika
Modern, dimulai dari kuanta Planck dan diakhiri dengan Kucing
Schrodinger yang paradoksial itu.

Selamat menikmati.

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Date:  Wed, 19 Jun 2002 09:08:57 -0400
From:  Bill Stebbins <bs16 @ somewhere.in.the.world>
Subject: If A Man Alone In The Woods Speaks....

The question was raised, "If a man alone in the woods speaks, and
his wife cannot hear him, is he still wrong?"

I have considered this question in light of the principles of Modern
Physics and offer my thesis, dedicated to my wife, who anchors me in
reality.

In the year 1900 Max Planck discovered that the energy of light is
quantified. In 1905 Albert Einstein used Planck's Constant to write
the theory of the Photoelectric Effect, that light behaves as a
particle when it comes to energy transfer. Louis de Broglie proposed
that particles can have a wave nature and this fact was later
verified.

These discoveries led Neils Bohr to propose a radical theory of the
atom, which was partially successful in explaining the emission
spectra of the hydrogen atom. Neils Bohr was compelled to introduce
the Principle of "Complementarity," that light is both a particle
and a wave.

The modern theories were extended when Max Born showed that the
distribution of energy was a function of probability. Further,
Warner Heisenberg wrote the Principle of Uncertainty, which says
that it is impossible to determine the exact location of an electron
and the vector direction of its momentum at the same time.

This was followed with the master stroke penned by Erwin
Schrodinger. Using the "Psi function" of Quantum Mechanics,
Schrodinger could map the "wave field" of any particle, thus giving
us a theoretical explanation for the structure of an atom and the
entire periodic table of the elements.

The Quantum mechanics predicts that a wave of a single frequency
would stretch out to infinite proportions, the superposition of a
narrow range of frequencies produces a standing wave function which
can be localized to a much more precise location. Thus the electron
and its position within an atom becomes a cloud of probability.

From this I infer that there are such states as being right and
being wrong, within certain parameters of uncertainty. Applying the
Psi function, the more vague the statement of the man the greater
the probability of him being correct. The narrower and more
specific his utterance the greater the likelihood of his being
wrong.

Also, the Principle of Complementarity assures us that if a man
alone in the woods speaks, and his wife cannot hear him, he is BOTH
right and wrong until he comes out of the woods.

In the analogy of Schrodinger's Cat, the cat in the box is both dead
and alive until someone opens the lid. The act of observing the
phenomenon determines the outcome.

Thus, the inevitable conclusion is that it doesn't matter what the
man says. Only his wife can determine whether or not he is correct.

http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/bs16

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-- 
amal
ikhlasulamal @ somewhere.in.the.world
-----------------------
Your future depends on your dreams. So go to sleep

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