Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Prologue
- Route map
- 1 Waves versus particles
- 2 Heisenberg and uncertainty
- 3 Schrödinger and matter waves
- 4 Atoms and nuclei
- 5 Quantum tunnelling
- 6 Pauli and the elements
- 7 Quantum co-operation and superfluids
- 8 Quantum jumps
- 9 Quantum engineering
- 10 Death of a star
- 11 Feynman rules
- 12 Weak photons and strong glue
- 13 Afterword – quantum physics and science fiction
- Epilogue
- Appendix 1 The size of things
- Appendix 2 Solving the Schrödinger equation
- Glossary
- Quotations and sources
- Suggestions for further reading
- Photo-credits
- Name index
- Subject index
1 - Waves versus particles
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Prologue
- Route map
- 1 Waves versus particles
- 2 Heisenberg and uncertainty
- 3 Schrödinger and matter waves
- 4 Atoms and nuclei
- 5 Quantum tunnelling
- 6 Pauli and the elements
- 7 Quantum co-operation and superfluids
- 8 Quantum jumps
- 9 Quantum engineering
- 10 Death of a star
- 11 Feynman rules
- 12 Weak photons and strong glue
- 13 Afterword – quantum physics and science fiction
- Epilogue
- Appendix 1 The size of things
- Appendix 2 Solving the Schrödinger equation
- Glossary
- Quotations and sources
- Suggestions for further reading
- Photo-credits
- Name index
- Subject index
Summary
… I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.
Richard FeynmanScience and experiment
Science is a special kind of explanation of the things we see around us. It starts with a problem and curiosity. Something strikes the scientist as odd. It doesn't fit in with the usual explanation. Maybe harder thinking or more careful observation will resolve the problem. If it remains a puzzle, it stimulates the scientist's imagination. Perhaps a completely new way of looking at things is needed? Scientists are perpetually trying to find better explanations – better in the sense that any new explanation must not only explain the new puzzle, but also be consistent with all of the previous explanations that still work well. The hallmark of any scientific explanation or ‘theory’ is that it must be able to make successful predictions. In other words, any decent theory must be able to say what will happen in any given set of circumstances. Thus, any new theory will only become generally accepted by the scientific community if it is able not only to explain the observations that scientists have already made, but also to foretell the results of new, as yet unperformed, experiments. This rigorous testing of new scientific ideas is the key feature that distinguishes science from other fields of intellectual endeavour -such as history or even economics – or from a pseudoscience such as astrology.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The New Quantum Universe , pp. 1 - 16Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003