Neil deGrasse Tyson explains Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.
Taken from Joe Rogan Experience #919.
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Neil deGrasse Tyson explains Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.
Taken from Joe Rogan Experience #919.
Video Source
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As smart as NGT is I don't think he's quite right on this, which is understandable because it's not his field of expertise. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle has to do with the limits to which we can accurately measure a particle's position and momentum. The two are related, and the more accurate we get to measuring one, the less accurate we will be on the other.
The "observer effect" is what gives rise to all of the various interpretations (not theories, not really even hypotheses) around QM. Before observation, particles are in a state of superpositioning, which in laymen's terms basically means they're in a kind of amorphous cloud of possible locations that we describe mathematically as the wavefunction. When we measure a particle's position or momentum, suddenly that cloud of possibilities seems to collapse to a single point; and it does this stochastically (or randomly, to use more laymen terms). The early, seemingly straight-forward interpretation of this is that the observation causes collapse (this is the "standard" Copenhagen interpretation). The problem with that interpretation are manifold, starting with the fact that it's incompatible with General Relativity, violates various principles of physics (like locality, with particles being able to affect each other at great distances faster than the speed of light), and basically leads to the century of confusion about QM being weird and magical and spooky; so Copenhagen is almost certainly the wrong interpretation.
The interpretation that I (and physicists) like Sean Carroll likes is Everett's, or the many-worlds interpretation. As science-fiction-y as it sounds, the basic idea is that all of those superpositioned states of the particle/wavefunction are worlds. The observer is in a state of such superpositioning as well, and when these two quantum systems interact (via observation) they entangle with each other and the environment and thus the states decohere from each other. This is actually the simplest view of QM because it's not adding anything to the mathematical formulas (Copenhagen adds collapse, Bohm adds hidden variables), is (theoretically) compatible with General Relativity (because it's local, real, and deterministic), and doesn't require any magic or woo woo. I don't know why so many are hostile to the notion of other worlds when those worlds are right there in the fundamental math of quantum mechanics; it's not like we're inventing them from nothing, and the notion of other worlds shouldn't be any more surprising than the notion of other galaxies.
Neil Tyson’s grammar error caught on camera: the only reason why I can see you is..
Is the photon knocking the atom off course, almost like a bowling ball hitting another ball out of its position?
so the light literally pushes the molecule because the molecule is so small. makes sense now
Love Neil and his enthusiasm for science and the cosmos.