Documentary Description
Simply put, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle states that it is
impossible to know both the exact position and the exact velocity of an
object at the same time. However, the effect is tiny and so is only
noticeable on a subatomic scale.
Werner Heisenberg
(1901-1976) was a German physicist who helped to formulate quantum
mechanics at the beginning of the 20th century. He first presented the
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in February 1927 in a letter to
Wolfgang Pauli, then published it later that year.
Light
can be considered as being made up of packets of energy called photons.
To measure the position and velocity of any particle, you would first
shine a light on it, then detect the reflection. On a macroscopic
scale, the effect of photons on an object is insignificant.
Unfortunately, on subatomic scales, the photons that hit the subatomic
particle will cause it to move significantly, so although the position
has been measured accurately, the velocity of the particle will have
been altered. By learning the position, you have rendered any
information you previously had on the velocity useless. In other words,
the observer affects the observed
|
