• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

The Best and Easiest Reading on Quantum Physics?

True-Gossiper

Student
T
Joined
Apr 22, 2004
Messages
34
Quantum Physics (QP) has been a very hyped word these days. I'm really looking forward to understand it at least at the fundamentals, but unfortunately most references out there are too technical and/or sophisticated for my lay mind. In the other extreme, some easy-to-read and watered-down explanations are too new agey and full of spiritual balooney orientation.

Is there any online source with I can get to satisfy this need? Something like the idiot's guide to QP, or QP commentaries for dummies, etc?

Please share. Thank you.
 
Try a line of books similar to the Dummie ones called "Introducing QM". It's put out by Totem Books.

introducingbooks.com

It's really easy to read and understand, but I still have a hard time with it. What I like best is that there is hardly any math.:D
 
I can't give you a link but there is a (very) short story called "Death and What Comes Next" by Terry Pratchett. Everything is explained in this paragraph:

(it's a dialogue between Death and a dying philosopher)

"WELL DONE, said Death. THAT'S THE SPIRIT. I JUST WANTED TO CHECK.
He leaned forward.
AND ARE YOU AWARE OF THE THEORY THAT THE STATE OF SOME TINY PARTICLES IS INDETERMINATE UNTIL THE MOMENT THEY ARE OBSERVED? A CAT IN A BOX IS OFTEN MENTIONED.
"Oh, yes," said the philosopher.
GOOD, said Death. He got to his feet as the last of the light died, and smiled.

I SEE YOU... "

:D
 
I wouldn't have thought that such a book would be too easy to make. There are 3 basic points of quantumn mechanic to get your head around

1) While some elements in quantum mechanics are certainly weirder than others, scientists can't provide a why or how as yet.

2) Nothing exists until you measure it.

3) A phenomenon called Schrodinger's Cat. This is basically, if it can only be on or off, and you don't know which one it is, then it is both, until you check.

As you get a better understanding it just gets weirder and weirder.

To be quite honest, the simplest way I could put it is that as we measure and see things, we define them. Before then, they remain a collective of all the statistical outcomes possible. As we walk through our lives, we define these objects by using logic to whittle down the number of these statistical outcomes. For example, if I drop an egg, the number of statistical outcomes of me dropping this egg whittle away as the egg gets nearer to the floor, until the egg hits the floor, and there is only one possible statistical outcome left, that being the one that has just occured. And what of the other statistical outcomes? These are the ones where I catch the egg, where the eggs fall is cushioned by my foot, all the other things that could've happened but didn't and there is another universe for each of these outcomes, where that outcome happens instead. It is a bit hard to push your head around, I've heard you can get a doctorate in the subject and still not entirely know what you are on about.
 
I had a book called Schrodinger's Cat by a John Gribbin on the subject of Quantum mechanics, but I really wouldn't recommend it.
 
leafman91 said:
3) A phenomenon called Schrodinger's Cat. This is basically, if it can only be on or off, and you don't know which one it is, then it is both, until you check.
Click to expand...


Not forgetting, of course, that the point of the Schrodinger's cat thought experiment is that if you try to extend quantum phenomena to the macroscopic scale, you get results that are absurd. And it's very difficult to get a cat in a box (why do you think it's a thought experiment?).

I would recommend John Gribbin's In Search of Schrodinger's Cat as a starting point.
 
Thank you for the references, guys. I'll try my best to look for them and I will share anything I found too here.

Edited by prewitt81: 
Content in violation of Rule 1 deleted.


You may not link to torrent sites or other pages which provide copyrighted materials illegally.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: prewitt81
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I read The Bluffer's Guide to the Quantum Universe by Jack Klaff and, no, I didn't understand it, but it was fun to read.:D
 
True-Gossiper said:
Quantum Physics (QP) has been a very hyped word these days. I'm really looking forward to understand it at least at the fundamentals, but unfortunately most references out there are too technical and/or sophisticated for my lay mind. In the other extreme, some easy-to-read and watered-down explanations are too new agey and full of spiritual balooney orientation.

Is there any online source with I can get to satisfy this need? Something like the idiot's guide to QP, or QP commentaries for dummies, etc?

Please share. Thank you.
Click to expand...

Actually you don't need to read anything to understand quantum physics. If you just meditate on the lotus blossum while sniffing a homeopathic preparation (30C) of patchouli incense, it will all come to you. :)
 
It's funny that you started this thread here rather in the science sub-forum, but I think I know why :).
I guess you're like me interested in the interpretation, here is my advice:
Check the Double slit experiment.
Study carefully Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle.
Also read the Interpretations of quantum mechanics.

aggle-rithm said:
How about, "Nothing is determinate until you measure it.

"And then, it's only partly determinate."
Click to expand...
Well, I've been studying QM for a while, here is my thoughts until now :
In order to measure the position and momentum of a particle like an electron, you must touch it first. If you hold your finger firmly it will vibrate and disturb the electron's momentum much but this can reveal its position more precisely at that moment. And If you don't hold your finger firmly, the electron will disturb your finger momentum and conceal its own precise position.
From that comes the uncertainty!.
 
Last edited:
reason1 said:
Well, I've been studying QM for a while, here is my thoughts until now :
In order to measure the position and momentum of a particle like an electron, you must touch it first. If you hold your finger firmly it will vibrate and disturb the electron's momentum much but this can reveal its position more precisely at that moment. And If you don't hold your finger firmly, the electron will disturb your finger momentum and conceal its own precise position.
From that comes the uncertainty!.
Click to expand...
I did some refinement :).
 
reason1 said:
Well, I've been studying QM for a while, here is my thoughts until now :
In order to measure the position and momentum of a particle like an electron, you must touch it first. If you hold your finger firmly it will vibrate and disturb the electron's momentum much but this can reveal its position more precisely at that moment. And If you don't hold your finger firmly, the electron will disturb your finger momentum and conceal its own precise position.
From that comes the uncertainty!.
Click to expand...
A lot of people (even some physicists) make the mistake of confusing Uncertainty (as per Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle) with the problem of measurement induced uncertainty (not to be confused with The Measurement Problem :p). HUP says there is an inherent uncertainty in various aspects of a particle independent of you trying to measure them. IOW, it's not just my eyesight, things really are fuzzy round the edges...
Prof. Feynman said that if you think you understand QM, you don't. It works, but we don't know how. That makes it entirely different from psychic and paranormal phenomena...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom