Go back
theory of everything

theory of everything

Science


@wolfgang59 said
I don't think Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle involves the future.

It just states that one cannot know both the
position and velocity of a particle at any moment.
People often think they know what they will do tomorrow. They have plans and think nothing can change them. Nobody knows that with certainty though. We know probabilities, but never certainties.
A photon can travel millions of light years before it reaches it's destination, but as far as the photon is concerned it arrived as soon as it left. It has infinite mass.
If you could measure the position and velocity of the photon you can tell where it will reach it's destination with certainty. Like a prediction of the future you can only know the probabilities, never certainty.


@Metal-Brain
Smoking?


@wolfgang59 said
@Metal-Brain
Smoking?
Measuring the position and velocity of a photon is sort of like looking into the future. The photon already knows the future since time does not pass for the photon. Knowing the position and velocity is like peeking into the future. That is why knowing both results in uncertainty. You are not allowed to peek into the future.


@wolfgang59 said
I don't think Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle involves the future.

It just states that one cannot know both the
position and velocity of a particle at any moment.
More accurately, it states that particles do not have a well-defined position or momentum, not just that it cannot be precisely known.

Vote Up
Vote Down

@kazetnagorra said
More accurately, it states that particles do not have a well-defined position or momentum, not just that it cannot be precisely known.
Up to a point, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle relates to the results of measurements, and reflected the state of understanding of mechanics at very short distance scales at the time. Your statement, while true about our current understanding of quantum mechanics, didn't apply then, they hadn't worked it out at that time.

As an aside, note that energy time uncertainty relates the uncertainty in the time an event happened, say an atomic transition, to the uncertainty (variance) of the energy of the emitted photon. It most certainly does not invalidate the entire concept of time as @ogb seemed to think in his OP.


@metal-brain said
People often think they know what they will do tomorrow. They have plans and think nothing can change them. Nobody knows that with certainty though. We know probabilities, but never certainties.
A photon can travel millions of light years before it reaches it's destination, but as far as the photon is concerned it arrived as soon as it left. It has infinite mass.
If yo ...[text shortened]... ith certainty. Like a prediction of the future you can only know the probabilities, never certainty.
Where did you get the idea photon's have infinite mass? If they did, they would be bigger than the entire universe.


@metal-brain said
Measuring the position and velocity of a photon is sort of like looking into the future.
No it isn't.

Vote Up
Vote Down

@wolfgang59

interesting concept..can you expand on it a bit ? TY


@sonhouse said
Where did you get the idea photon's have infinite mass? If they did, they would be bigger than the entire universe.
Relativistic mass.

I noticed that some physicists reject relativistic mass altogether though. Maybe I should create a thread about it.


@wolfgang59 said
No it isn't.
Well that's that then. I didn't know nay saying was a concept.

Vote Up
Vote Down

@ogb said
@wolfgang59

interesting concept..can you expand on it a bit ? TY
The "concept" was metal-brain's.
He should explain it.

Vote Up
Vote Down

@metal-brain said
Well that's that then. I didn't know nay saying was a concept.
It isn't.
Only your mate thinks that.


@wolfgang59 said
The "concept" was metal-brain's.
He should explain it.
I explained it and you know it. You rejected my explanation is all. I didn't know the word "no" was a concept.

Vote Up
Vote Down

@metal-brain said
Relativistic mass.

I noticed that some physicists reject relativistic mass altogether though. Maybe I should create a thread about it.
Hard to understand how you would say it has infinite mass, relativistic or otherwise. Photons impart momentum to mass it hits and that is the only relevance to mass, which is the ability to impart momentum when hitting something of mass.

Vote Up
Vote Down

@metal-brain said
I explained it and you know it. You rejected my explanation is all. I didn't know the word "no" was a concept.
You wrote
... The photon already knows the future ....

You call that an explanation?