Picture this...

atferrari

Joined Jan 6, 2004
5,012
Cozumel is a great place. I have been there a number of times. This was back in the days where there was only like 2 pay phones on the island. The Vista Del Mar (our usual hotel) had no phones in the room. If you really needed to make a call, the usual, procedure was to go to the boat dock and have one of the captains do a ship to shore to the mainland. So calls were rare. It was paradise.

I just wonder how things have changed.
Not much really. Now Captain gives you his personal mobile for you to make the call.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Wait. Shouldn't the act of observation reduce the probability that the atom is even there to be observed? Schrödinger's cat and all that?
I think you mean Heisenberg's uncertainty principle which applies to electrons much more than atoms - even less to house cats (unless they are in a box).

In the case of Schrödinger's cat, that specifically says you do not know a subatomic particle's state until you observe it (and how you observe it). So, in the photo, it applies perfectly as described -it is a little green dot (there, in the center).
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
6,323
I think you mean Heisenberg's uncertainty principle which applies to electrons much more than atoms - even less to house cats (unless they are in a box).

In the case of Schrödinger's cat, that specifically says you do not know a subatomic particle's state until you observe it (and how you observe it). So, in the photo, it applies perfectly as described -it is a little green dot (there, in the center).
So I merged the two theories -- which are related.

And it's not only electrons that are effected. The uncertainty is a function of the mass of the observed particle, the amount of energy required to observe it, and the accuracy with which one wishes to ascertain its position or velocity.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
18,111
It's a cool picture but the description is a little chafing. You're not "seeing" an atom, which would be FAR too small to be seen. You are seeing the result of a photon striking a sensor or a grain of film. Making an atom emit photons and then detecting them doesn't strike me as being all that novel. Paring down the scale so that you're working with just one atom may be?
 

Thread Starter

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,777
So I merged the two theories -- which are related.

And it's not only electrons that are effected. The uncertainty is a function of the mass of the observed particle, the amount of energy required to observe it, and the accuracy with which one wishes to ascertain its position or velocity.
Yes, Heisenberg's principle applies to atoms as well. Although in a lesser manner. That sort of thing can be observed in a bose-einstein condensate.
 
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