Quantum Mechanics before breakfast…

(…well, just after). At a private view last night, during the course of a wide ranging conversation on learning and understanding, the subject of quantum mechanics came up as an example of where abstract mathematical concepts can help us describe things we otherwise couldn’t.

I’m never unwise enough to get onto quantum mechanics unless I’ve got a drink in my hand. My interlocutor’s (tongue in cheek) opinion on quantum mechanics was “it’s bollocks” – if it can’t be described by Newtonian physics she refuses believe it’s true… And I could recall too little of the evidence to be able to persuade her.

I wonder if it’s possible to come up with a dinner-party-simple answer to this. I’ll post anything I come up with – but if anyone gets there first please post it in the comments – I’ll be very relieved! Anyone got a simple description of the Stern-Gerlach experiment?

About Simon Wood

Lecturer in medical education, lapsed mathematician, Doctor Who fan and garden railway builder. See simonwood.info for more...

4 thoughts on “Quantum Mechanics before breakfast…

  1. I hear that ‘Discovery’ does some very educational programmes about this kind of thing. Though personally I never switch on my TV unless I’m in the house, so I may not have seen it.

  2. I hear that ‘Discovery’ does some very educational programmes about this kind of thing. Though personally I never switch on my TV unless I’m in the house, so I may not have seen it.

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