Approach of Physicist
Approach of Physicist
Approach of Physicist
Any knowledge of nature begins with our senses. A child touches his
wooden horse with his fingers, listens to his mother’s voice, and sucks her breast.
In short, from the very first days of his life he finds himself in a world of
phenomenon which gives rise to images. He has as yet, no name for these
phenomena and images. Only gradually he begins to recognize words
corresponding to them and learns to understand what images are hidden behind the
words of other people. Quite soon he begins to realize that the same words give
rise to different images in different persons. Finally, he finds that there are words
that are not linked directly with images, though they are begotten by them. These
are concepts.
The linkage
Likewise the concept of a particle does not assume that you will visualize a
specific image such as a billiard ball or dust speck. It is enough for a physicist to
know that a particle is a certain object, whose internal structure is of no interest to
him, but which has a mass m, velocity v, momentum p=mv and a trajectory of
motion that can be followed by the physicist.
The trajectory or path is still another new concept that is required to define
the concept “motion of the particle”. On the face of it, this process is infinite: to
define a concept we have to use another concept which again must be defined, etc.
but this is far from the case. In physics there exist several primary concepts which
can be defined without reference to others such as time t, coordinate x and charge e
etc.
Images of motion:
In Quantum Mechanics
We have seen time and again that no single word of our speech is capable of
accommodating all the diversity and complexity of this concept. Then we resorted
to the equations of quantum mechanics and with aid of formulas, bypassing words
and rigorous definitions, we have constructed an image of the atom for ourselves.
Here we intentionally followed the method employed by modern physics.
What is the essence of this method? First of all it forbids one to speak of
phenomenon by themselves, independently of the method by which they are
observed. The concept of phenomenon and its observation exist independently only
in our mind, and even then only with restricted accuracy. For a physicist these
concepts are two aspects of the same physical reality which he studies and in
whose objective existence he certainly believes.
Is modified once again. It becomes more complicated and acquires the following
form
Observation formula
Present day physicist began their training with formulas. This is probably very
reasonable. Formulas however do not have precise verbal equivalents. The
teaching of modern physics therefore consists in expounding uncustomary things
with customary words, but each time from the slightly different view point. As a
great scientist said “the vital condition for any creative work is it aims to submerge
the new concepts from the sphere of logical and conscious into the sphere of
intuitive and subconscious”
“An atomic object is a physical reality the properties of which can be described by
means of the equations of quantum mechanics”
Here comes some dilemma. Any way when these two definitions are placed
side by side they seems to mock common sense. They are nevertheless natural
within the scope of complementary principle. The point is that the concept of an
atom and quantum mechanics are complementary. So the concept of ‘coordinate’
and ‘momentum’, a ‘wave’ and a ‘particle’, a ‘phenomenon’ and ‘observation’ ,
‘probability’ and ‘certainty’ and causality’ and ‘chance’. they cannot substitute for
each other and not one of them can be defined exhaustively without taking the
another. This is what we must get used to & what Niels Bhor had done , it is the
destiny of all profound concepts. He said that you must construct the opposite
statement and if it turns out to be absurd, the initial statement was trivial. He gave
some examples to illustrate this, the assertion that “God exists” is a profound one
because the opposite one “there is no god ” is just as profound. And the statement
that “all people are mortal” is a trivial one because the opposition stament that “all
people are immortal” is absurd.
So you are trapped very well, you need to use words (formulas) by thinking
very reasonably and very certainly in Quantum mechanics. The observation of an
event in quantum mechanics is varying very much than in classical because the
probability of uncertainty that changes the variables according to observer by
observer is high though the probability of Schrodinger’s cat to live or die is fifty
percentage.
Reference:
-P.A Cox
3. Wikipedia
Dear Silija,
This is the work of me by taking a time of almost 1 month. I said you early that I
am very much trapped in some books.