What would you think of a world where a ball was red if you looked at it through a square window, but green if you looked at it through a round window? Or where 2 + 3 = 5, but 3 + 2 = .... something else?
One might think that such a world only exists in the imagination of Lewis Carroll, but similar strange phenomena are actually all around us at the atomic and sub-atomic level. And if you want to go into the rabbit hole of quantum mechanics, Beyond Weird by Philip Ball is a good guide.
I enjoyed this book. My post-secondary physics studies were mostly thermo-dynamics and electro-magnetism, certainly nothing dealing with quantum physics. I only had a superficial knowledge of this subject before reading this book. Yet I found it explains very well such things as wave-functions, entangled states, superpositions, the uncertainty principle, and all the rest of the strange characteristics of this weird and wonderful realm. Published in 2018, this book gives a good overview of the latest thinking and discoveries in quantum mechanics.
And I liked a couple of the jokes:
Heisenberg is pulled over for speeding. The police officer asks him 'Do you know how fast you were going?'. 'No', Heisenberg replies, 'but we know exactly where we are!' The officer gives him a confused look and says 'You were going 108 miles per hour!' Heisenberg throws his arms up and cries 'Oh great! Now I'm lost!'
And
Schrödinger is driving along when he is pulled over by a policeman. The officer looks over the car and asks Schrödinger if he has anything in the boot. 'A cat' Schrödinger replies. The policeman opens the boot and yells 'Hey! This cat is dead!' Schrödinger replies angrily 'Well he is now!'
The only problem that I have is I now realize that my idea for a 'spooky action at a distance' telegraph isn't going to work. Back to the drawing board...
One might think that such a world only exists in the imagination of Lewis Carroll, but similar strange phenomena are actually all around us at the atomic and sub-atomic level. And if you want to go into the rabbit hole of quantum mechanics, Beyond Weird by Philip Ball is a good guide.
I enjoyed this book. My post-secondary physics studies were mostly thermo-dynamics and electro-magnetism, certainly nothing dealing with quantum physics. I only had a superficial knowledge of this subject before reading this book. Yet I found it explains very well such things as wave-functions, entangled states, superpositions, the uncertainty principle, and all the rest of the strange characteristics of this weird and wonderful realm. Published in 2018, this book gives a good overview of the latest thinking and discoveries in quantum mechanics.
And I liked a couple of the jokes:
Heisenberg is pulled over for speeding. The police officer asks him 'Do you know how fast you were going?'. 'No', Heisenberg replies, 'but we know exactly where we are!' The officer gives him a confused look and says 'You were going 108 miles per hour!' Heisenberg throws his arms up and cries 'Oh great! Now I'm lost!'
And
Schrödinger is driving along when he is pulled over by a policeman. The officer looks over the car and asks Schrödinger if he has anything in the boot. 'A cat' Schrödinger replies. The policeman opens the boot and yells 'Hey! This cat is dead!' Schrödinger replies angrily 'Well he is now!'
The only problem that I have is I now realize that my idea for a 'spooky action at a distance' telegraph isn't going to work. Back to the drawing board...
