UNCERTAINTYPRINCIPLEIICIRCUMVENTIONS.pptVIP

UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE II:CIRCUMVENTIONS by Robert Nemiroff Michigan Technological University Physics X: About This Course Pronounced Fiziks Ecks Reviews the coolest concepts in physics Being taught for credit at Michigan Tech Michigan Tech course PH4999 Aimed at upper level physics majors Light on math, heavy on concepts Anyone anywhere is welcome No textbook required Wikipedia, web links, and lectures only UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE:?HEISENBERGS MICROSCOPE A particle (blue) sits at the focus of a microscope. Shooting long wavelength photons? at it will determine the particles position only crudely but the? low?recoil will create only a small? uncertainty in its momentum. This is a simple example of a direct? measurement that cannot break the uncertainty principle. UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE:?EINSTEINS SLIT A photon goes through a slit in a wall. Einstein: By measuring both the? resulting momentum of the photon AND the wall, one might determine? the photons momentum arbitrarily well,? violating the uncertainty principle. Does this work? UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE:?EINSTEINS SLIT Bohr: No -- there will be uncertainty also? in the?walls measured position. ? When everything is accounted for, the uncertainty principle sill holds. UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE:?EINSTEINS BOX Einstein: A box filled with photons? has a shutter that opens at a very? precise time.? A photon leaves.? The box is then re-weighed to find out the photons precise energy. Doesnt this violate the energy-time uncertainty principle (ΔE t h)? UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE:?EINSTEINS BOX Bohr: No. ?When the photon leaves,? the reduced gravity does make the box? sag. ?However, the uncertainty of the clock? position in the gravity field includes GR gravitational slowing, so that an? uncertainty in the position of clock leads to an uncertainty of the slowing of the? clock which leads in an uncertainty in time. The uncertainty principle holds. THE OTHER UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE:ENERGY VERSUS TIME ΔE Δt h / 4 π