In which I attempt to explain Quantum Physics & inevitably fail

Lofty topic. But hey, I'm not afraid to tackle the big subjects. I took physics, in high school, up to Year 9, until it was compulsory. And then dropped it like a hot academic potato. So here I am picking up where I left off 30-odd years ago.* 

Where to begin.

Well, technically with the Big Bang.  Which temps me to segue to that wonderful sitcom The Big Bang Theory, but I'm not going to pollute the serious matter of Quantum Mechanics with references to popular culture, even if Sheldon Cooper is the most hilarious theoretical physicist character on television today.


But I digress.


And with good reason.


Because Quantum Physics is hard to explain. Basically, it's the science of indivisible units of energy at the subatomic level. The mathematical calculations of how these particles and waves conduct themselves in nature while the rest of us get on with our every day lives . It is the study of  the essence of matter, if you like. The essence of life reduced to algebraic equations. (See  below.)

What the frig?

Quantum Mechanics provides some mind-blowing revelations about the nature of reality. Here's a list of personal favourites:

• The nucleus of an atom is composed of waves of energy and not solid matter. Therefore we are all literally collections of information, nothing and something at the same time. (Refer to my blog title.)
• When electrons are observed under scientific observation they CHANGE THEIR BEHAVIOUR. (This revelation disturbed me so much it kept me up an entire night, and I'm a good sleeper!)
• Particles can be present in multiple positions SIMULTANEOUSLY. This is called Superposition and it alludes to physical systems existing in different dimensions.
• String Theory has identified 11 dimensions of existence, most of which are invisible to the naked eye.
• The universe is donut-shaped.

Some nice balls.

I've bought several books on the subject. This one is OK.  This one has lots of pictures in it! And this one compares QP to Alice in Wonderland's adventure down the rabbit hole. The metaphor of an LSD-induced trip being an apt entry into the crazy world of molecular physics. So, um, I've flicked through them a few times, but it hasn't helped my understanding of QP as much as this does.


So, I could throw around terms like the Copenhagen Interpretation; decoherence; entangled photons; the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle; probability theory; and the whole Schroedinger's Cat palaver to make out as if I know what I'm talking about, but I'm not a phony.

I don't understand this.

I happily admit that I'm completely out of my depth with this topic and that is precisely why it fascinates me. It's like life. I have no idea how it works, I'm just trying to make my way through it without a rule book. 


Yet, I'm not a complete dumbass. Observe Shakespeare's  Sonnet 130**:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: 
      And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
      As any she belied with false compare.


This is a sublime ode to love and the acceptance of life in all it's imperfection. Just as the tiny quantum world, with all it's entangled importance eludes us with its frustrating complexity. An elusive contradiction of the known and the yearning to know.


Now it's time for me to abandon this subject and revert to my usual banal state of mind. Please feel free to correct any absurd misinterpretations or errors, I promise to make any amendments to my physics notebook.




*This figure disturbs me no end. 
**Note the obligatory Shakespeare reference.