quantum mechanics

Well, not actual photos in the optical sense (hence the quotes)... but now technology has advanced to the point where the electronic structure of atoms can now be resolved using a technique called Field Emission Electron Microscopy (FEEM)...

Or not... http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2009/aug/26/entropy-time-arrow-quantum-mechanics Paper here. Thoughts? The quote above seems a little simplistic.

This thread more or less instantly got derailed into a discussion of the Kalām cosmological argument. The argument—as I understand it—goes basically: 1. No infinite set can exist in the physical world. 2. Therefore, the universe cannot have existed forever. 3. Therefore, the universe must...

Warning: This is wild speculation from someone who probably doesn't know what he's talking about. Please link me to any resources that would set me straight. :) Cliffs Notes: Could the possibility of a fundamental resolution to the universe explain dark matter/energy? Something about the...

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...

Never heard of the imminent physicist Hugh Everett? There's a reason for that... There's a video now available for playing on NOVA's website concerning the life of Hugh Everett, he originator of the Many Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. It's an odd and quirky film, right in keeping...

I started a thread about this in the general woo forum, but someone pointed out that there will maybe be more people here who can answer my questions, so I will try here as well. A friend of mine sent me this as a part of an on-going discussion via mail (my translation) and I feel it is not...

I am discussing things with a friend of mine via mail who have just given me this stuff about there being no objective reality... He said the following (my translation): I know this isn't right. Right? But I need some info to read up on to be able to refute this in a good way. I'm sure this...

A photon is coming in where the arrow is. The red lines are half-silvered mirrors, and the green lines with ticks on their ends are full mirrors. The blue circles are detectors. Here's what I'm getting as the probability of detectors 1, 2, or 3 going off given that a detector goes off: Is this...

Henry Stapp at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has written a paper titled "A Model of the Quantum-Classical and Mind-Brain Connections, and of the Role of The Quantum Zeno Effect in the Physical Implementation of Conscious Intent." It is available here...

COULOMB’S LAW ONLY VALID FOR RELATIVE MOTION RELATIONSHIPS Our experimental data confirms that elementary charged particles behave according to the expectations of Coulomb’s law when the interacting particles have relative motion with respect to each other, but what about when they don’t...

I was recently discussing the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics (henceforth MWIQM) with a friend. It turns out that he is upset that people on the internet who believe in the MWIQM mock him for believing in God. He apparently thinks the God hypothesis is as plausible the MWIQM, as...

4th Wednesday of every month Wednesday, Nov. 28 @ 7:30 pm Free :cool: This month: The ABCs of Quantum Mechanics: Mind Over Matter or Vice Versa? with Jeffrey Nuttall Einstein called quantum mechanics “spooky”. Daniel Greenberger called it “magic”. Richard Feynman said that “it is safe to say...

I was watching a cute animation called "Dr. Quantum" recently. The clips I could find talked about the amazing science of Quantum Mechanics, but then when I tried to look up more on this field of science It quickly spiraled into very shaky ground. I don't think I have to describe some of the...

A story has been making "news" for the past week or so in South Africa. An ex-policeman claims he can find the bodies of missing persons by using quantum mechanics and a lock of their hair or even stubble from a razor. The "inventor" isn't saying much, but apparently his invention involves pairs...

Hi, Thought I'd start off with a query to any physicists out there. I've just managed to clear Penrose's 'Road to Reality' on my second attempt. It's been a stimulating ride - I used to be a biologist so phyiscs and maths were not my strong suit, but I was aware that you could only go so far...

I'm studying for a quantum mechanics test, but I've run into a problem with a practice sum I'm trying to solve. The assignment is to calculate the energy in eV of the Lyman-alpha line. So I have to calculate E_n for n = 1. That's easy with the formula for E_n which includes 4*pi*epsilon_0...

What is this theory? What sort of predictions does it make? I've heard of it before, but I could never find a good explanation. I'm hardly sure what the 'loop' means. What sort of assumptions does this theory make? I get the impression that it's somehow superior to "String Theory" and other...

Hi I'd be interested if anyone has any views or comments (eg criticisms) regarding 'Origin of Gravitational Force', something I wrote a few years ago ORIGIN OF GRAVITATIONAL FORCE Although molecules are commonly visualised as being similar to snooker balls, according to the Quantum...

Article here I read this story on Digg and it seemed a little off. The introduction to the article seemed like a set-up for bad reasoning. The article is laced with technical terminology that I can't debunk. I figured it's something somebody here could confirm or denounce.

I registered for a certificate program at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Wellesley, MA. , as part of the New England School of Whole Health Education. The program is accredited by the Mass. DOE, Amer. Dietetic Association, Diabetes Education Assoc, and I did the research and they're not lying...

What exactly is quantum entanglement. If I recall it's when two atoms or particles become connected somehow and information is transferred instantaneously or something. Can one "dis-entangle" something that's been entangled? Also, (this is a weird question, but if you got a theory: I'd...

I'll start far afield. This should be fun and informative. First of all, let's understand that quantum mechanics makes some really strange claims about reality at its most basic level, but it also claims that reality changes when we deal with enough quanta that we have a statistical universe...

From an article by Ingrid Hansen Smythe criticising the movie "The Secret" This doesn't seem to gel with my lay man's understanding of Quantum Physics. My understanding is that an interaction of any kind causes the wave function to collapse, but it is neither the observer, nor "photons" or...

Just found this article in The Guardian: Source, full article I am not an expert in quantum physics. Is this patent (or idea) nothing but science fiction, or might a radar like this be reality in the near future?

Schneibster, I hope you don't mind that I want to take this out of the intellectual mess that is DJJ's thread. I mean, his cylinders are firing like crazy, but the pistons aren't attached to the crankshaft, you know? Anyway, what I'd like to do is repost Schneibster's explanations regarding...

Hello all, First let me say at the onset that my knowledge of physics is very basic. In other words I am a total laymen. Ever since I became an active skeptic I keep bumping into mentions of quantum physics from every quacks and woo practionners out there who seem to think that quantum...

Yeah, so, I was thinking about how M-Theory would explain quantum entanglement, and considered that when, say, a photon is separated symetrically, in quantum mechanics, the photon string is still a whole, but is vibrating in such a way that we could only tell this if we could see its movement...

Since it's so easy subject. Can a particle and anti-particle only appear FROM a boson? Or can they appear in true vacuum? If so, considering that the annihilation of the particle and anti-particle causes energy release in the form of a boson, doesn't that mean energy was created out of...

I've seen some media reports claiming that quantum entanglement has been used to "teleport" an "object" a distance of about a foot and a half. Gizmodo SciFi.com CNN I can't tell from these write-ups what it is that was supposedly teleported, or how big it was, or precisely how this was...