Ask a physicist anything.

[Gracchus]

I am no scientist and know very little concerning the area but I am interested in how 'something' can be in two or more places at one. I have heard this phenomena called 'possibilities'.

Care to elaborate for this unfortunate?

The math works. It makes testable predictions. It has practical applications. But to understand it you would have to get beyond your preconceptions about space, time, and causation. "Common sense" just isn't good enough. I think it was Richard Feynman who said, "Anyone who thinks they understand quantum theory just doesn't understand quantum theory."

Even in relativity theory, we find that space and time are interchangeable at near light speeds. A particle moving at near light speed has a wavelength, and so the position becomes indeterminate.

No one may really understand quantum theory. It is not in the least intuitive. But it works.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

WC - you said earlier



I am no scientist and know very little concerning the area but I am interested in how 'something' can be in two or more places at one. I have heard this phenomena called 'possibilities'.

Care to elaborate for this unfortunate?

It's not that it's in two places in once, but rather that its position is... blurry. Think of it as a wave in space, not as a discrete point. The mathematics is sound, but what's actually going on is hard for our brains to comprehend. There are a variety of interpretations, from 'it takes every path', to 'quantum mechanics is wrong!!!!2'

I like to think of the particle as a probability wave over all space that interferes with itself.

 

[AV1611VET]

Use the word 'and' in a legitimate sentence, five times consecutively.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Use the word 'and' in a legitimate sentence, five times consecutively.

And And and And And.

 

[AV1611VET]

And And and And And.

In Jack-and-Jill, the hyphens go between 'Jack' and 'and', and 'and' and Jill.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

In Jack-and-Jill, the hyphens go between 'Jack' and 'and', and 'and' and Jill.

I like it

 

[TheReasoner]

Is the following a grammatically correct sentence?

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."

 

[Michael]

It might, though string theory is too speculative for my taste. That said, it's the best we've got at understanding what's going on out there.

I'm definitely going to have to disagree with you on that one. String theory began in the realm of particle physics where it seemed to fail rather miserably at predicting subatomic interactions. It was then applied on the macroscopic level to BB theory where it's usefulness has been debatable at best. String there is also predicted on the existence of many additional dimensions to spacetime, none of which have been shown to exist. It 'appears' that you apply a completely different empirical standard on scientific topics than you apply to the topic of God. What's up with that?

 

[Jazmyn]

A man builds a house with four sides of rectangular construction, each side having a southern exposure. A big bear comes along. What colour is the bear?

 

[AV1611VET]

A man builds a house with four sides of rectangular construction, each side having a southern exposure. A big bear comes along. What colour is the bear?

​

 

[Jazmyn]

YEAH!

A fishing boat is lying in the harbour. There is a rope ladder hanging over the side with its end touching the water. The rungs of the ladder are 1 metre apart and the tide is rising at 50 centimetres an hour.
At the end of 6 hours, how many of the rungs will be covered?

 

[laconicstudent]

YEAH!

A fishing boat is lying in the harbour. There is a rope ladder hanging over the side with its end touching the water. The rungs of the ladder are 1 metre apart and the tide is rising at 50 centimetres an hour.
At the end of 6 hours, how many of the rungs will be covered?

3.

It would be 4 if there is a rung touching the water in the beginning I think. That gets covered up immediately, then 50 centimeters out of 100 centimeters in one meter equals 1 meter every two hours, divided by 6 equals 3. Viola.

 

[Jazmyn]

hehehe nope

 

[laconicstudent]

hehehe nope

Curses. What'd I miss on that? I should have known better then to try and do any mental math past midnight....

 

[TerranceL]

YEAH!

A fishing boat is lying in the harbour. There is a rope ladder hanging over the side with its end touching the water. The rungs of the ladder are 1 metre apart and the tide is rising at 50 centimetres an hour.
At the end of 6 hours, how many of the rungs will be covered?

There will be no change as the boat rises and sinks with the tide.

 

[Jazmyn]

YEP!

It's twenty years ago, and a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany (If you will recall, Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany.) Anyway, during the flight, TWO engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing,decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the engine fails before he can do so and the plane fatally crashes smack in the middle of "no man's land" between East Germany and West Germany. Where would you bury the survivors? East Germany, West Germany, or no man's land"?

 

[Cabal]

You don't bury survivors.

 

[Jazmyn]

Yup!

In Alberquerque, Texas, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why?

 

[AV1611VET]

Yup!

In Alberquerque, Texas, you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why?

Wooden legs don't have any film in them ---

 

[Cabal]

Ok, clueless Brit tiem, but isn't Albuquerque in New Mexico? Therefore you can't take a photo of a man with a wooden leg in Albuquerque, TX as there's no such place?

Although AV's answer is correct also