Ask a physicist anything. (5)

[Wiccan_Child]

I rented "What the bleep" the second I saw it at blockbuster, I was happy to rent what looked like a decent science documentary.

My pleasure soon turned into amusement at the way they try to turn quantum physics into a mystical thing.

Then I was a bit horrified wondering how many people were going to be watching this and believing it.

I remember when I watched it on TV when I was young, and I can remember being amused at how bad it was as well

 

[Naraoia]

I remember when I watched it on TV when I was young, and I can remember being amused at how bad it was as well

When you were young? Come on, grandpa!

 

[mzungu]

I rented "What the bleep" the second I saw it at blockbuster, I was happy to rent what looked like a decent science documentary.

My pleasure soon turned into amusement at the way they try to turn quantum physics into a mystical thing.

Then I was a bit horrified wondering how many people were going to be watching this and believing it.

Considering how many people believe in crystal healing then it would not surprise me a bit if they numbered in the millions

 

[TheReasoner]

Okay mr. physicist. The following is a concept sketch of what:

Mzungu: What? Crystal healing is FAKE? :o


I've had a rather difficult time convincing a well-meaning and all too gullible friend of the familt that a circular poker-chip like disk sold as a "Quantum stone" will NOT protect her from cell-phone radiation. She was almost set on buying one after an all too convincing employee had been enthusiastically telling her about the 'nanotechnology' used in those 'stones'.
"Oh, but we don't know everything you know so it might work"
Nooo, it will not work.

 

[chris4243]

I've had a rather difficult time convincing a well-meaning and all too gullible friend of the familt that a circular poker-chip like disk sold as a "Quantum stone" will NOT protect her from cell-phone radiation. She was almost set on buying one after an all too convincing employee had been enthusiastically telling her about the 'nanotechnology' used in those 'stones'.
"Oh, but we don't know everything you know so it might work"
Nooo, it will not work.

Cell phone radiation is less harmful than light from a lightbulb. Ie, not harmful at all. It's even lower energy than infrared light, which your body emits.

 

[TheReasoner]

Cell phone radiation is less harmful than light from a lightbulb. Ie, not harmful at all. It's even lower energy than infrared light, which your body emits.

I know. I know. But try telling them that *waves at angry mob*

 

[pgp_protector]

Okay mr. physicist. The following is a concept sketch of what:

...snip...

Almost looks like an MagnetoResistive head.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Okay mr. physicist. The following is a concept sketch of what:

Ooh... err...

I'm torn between a top-down view of a car, and a side-on view of a power plant's reactor (coal?). Oo, or maybe an oil cracking tower!

Mzungu: What? Crystal healing is FAKE? :o


I've had a rather difficult time convincing a well-meaning and all too gullible friend of the familt that a circular poker-chip like disk sold as a "Quantum stone" will NOT protect her from cell-phone radiation. She was almost set on buying one after an all too convincing employee had been enthusiastically telling her about the 'nanotechnology' used in those 'stones'.
"Oh, but we don't know everything you know so it might work"
Nooo, it will not work.

*shudder* salesmen and the word 'quantum' should never meet...

 

[Wiccan_Child]

When you were young? Come on, grandpa!

Pfft, you young whipper-snappers (who happen to be older than me), you don't know how lucky you've got it! Back in my day... *snore*

 

[Naraoia]

*shudder* salesmen and the word 'quantum' should never meet...

Now I want to know what a quantum salesman is like.

Undead?

In many places at once?

Not divisible into arbitrarily small pieces?

Can interfere with himself?

Or is he simply not, er, locally realistic?

 

[Seamus Riley]

"What the bleep" is notoriously... bad Steer clear if you don't want a steaming load of New Age quantum mysticism.

'Observation' is a tricky word, especially in quantum mechanics. It doesn't mean that a human mind has comprehended the data, it means that the system is being interfered with. Electrons, being quantum particles, can exist in a superposition of all the states they could possibly be in (i.e., if they could be at A or at B, they'll exist as an average of the two, (A+B)/SQRT(2) - it's a square root for crazy reasons).

excellent, thank you. by superposition, does this refer to the probability of the particle existing at a certain point because we cannot nail them down with existing technology, or do you think its as some say, to actually exist in more than one place at a single point in time? can't wait for these extra dimensions to be actually discovered beyond the math so we can figure these buggers out.

and yeh, i'm not bothered by the new agey aspects of that movie...eat the chicken and spit out the bones, i suppose. was funny seeing j z knight listed simply as "ramtha". perhaps tortelvis will someday actually become elvis.

 

[Seamus Riley]

Okay mr. physicist. The following is a concept sketch of what:

i got it: bob lazar's diagram of level 3 of the infamous area 51 "sportsmodel" flying saucer.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

excellent, thank you. by superposition, does this refer to the probability of the particle existing at a certain point because we cannot nail them down with existing technology, or do you think its as some say, to actually exist in more than one place at a single point in time?

Well, this is where you have to pick a side. Most physicists, myself include, favour the Copenhagen interpretation, where particles really are in a peculiar 'blur' of quantum states. The many-worlds interpretation, by contrast, says every possibility is played out in alternate universes (a trope much exploited by TV shows the world over ). We've finally come close to being able to make experiments that could tell us which interpretation is right, but it's all up in the air. Watch this space...

can't wait for these extra dimensions to be actually discovered beyond the math so we can figure these buggers out.

and yeh, i'm not bothered by the new agey aspects of that movie...eat the chicken and spit out the bones, i suppose. was funny seeing j z knight listed simply as "ramtha". perhaps tortelvis will someday actually become elvis.

Totally legit.

 

[TheReasoner]

Ooh... err...

I'm torn between a top-down view of a car, and a side-on view of a power plant's reactor (coal?). Oo, or maybe an oil cracking tower!

Think smaller! In fact you're using several millions of them right now. More likely billions, actually.

*shudder* salesmen and the word 'quantum' should never meet...

Too true!

 

[TheReasoner]

Now I want to know what a quantum salesman is like.

Undead?

In many places at once?

Not divisible into arbitrarily small pieces?

Can interfere with himself?

Or is he simply not, er, locally realistic?

I loled

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Think smaller! In fact you're using several millions of them right now. More likely billions, actually.

Hmm. Some sort of cellular machinery? Golgi apparatus, nucleolus, endoplastic reticula? Protein gates in the cell membrane?

 

[Upisoft]

Think smaller! In fact you're using several millions of them right now. More likely billions, actually.

Isn't it some kind of computer chip gate?

 

[pgp_protector]

Think smaller! In fact you're using several millions of them right now. More likely billions, actually.



Too true!

Then it's not an MR Head
(But it is produced in a similar fashion )

 

[TheReasoner]

Hmm. Some sort of cellular machinery? Golgi apparatus, nucleolus, endoplastic reticula? Protein gates in the cell membrane?

Nah. This is nothing organic.
Upisoft is onto it.

Isn't it some kind of computer chip gate?

It's a MOSFET transistor. N-channel, to be precise. In a simple integrated circuit.

 

[Naraoia]

We've finally come close to being able to make experiments that could tell us which interpretation is right, but it's all up in the air. Watch this space...

What kind of experiments? I am totally watching this space