- #1
studious
- 17
- 0
HUP states that "certain physical quantities, like the position and momentum, cannot both have precise values at the same time. The narrower the probability distribution for one, the wider it is for the other." (Wikipedia)
I am not a physicist, but I have been pondering this question:
In this particular case, where we are concerned about position and momentum, does HUP mean that humans can not possibly find out precise values for position and momentum, or that the values themselves don't even exist (or "exist as a continuum" whatever that means)?
I have a particle it has some momentum and some position at some particular time. I may not/can't know both those values, but they do exist?... the particle can not be without one of momentum or position, right?
A physics students has been trying to convince me that at a particular time, the two pieces of "information" (a particle's position or momentum) don't even exist (much less humans being able find out both, which HUP is concerned with?).
(In fact, the Wikipedia page itself says that "position and momentum, cannot both have precise values at the same time." Does that mean the values don't even exist or that humans can't KNOW them precisely... if the second... why the HELL IS THERE the word 'cannot' in that Wikipedia statement?)
I am not a physicist, but I have been pondering this question:
In this particular case, where we are concerned about position and momentum, does HUP mean that humans can not possibly find out precise values for position and momentum, or that the values themselves don't even exist (or "exist as a continuum" whatever that means)?
I have a particle it has some momentum and some position at some particular time. I may not/can't know both those values, but they do exist?... the particle can not be without one of momentum or position, right?
A physics students has been trying to convince me that at a particular time, the two pieces of "information" (a particle's position or momentum) don't even exist (much less humans being able find out both, which HUP is concerned with?).
(In fact, the Wikipedia page itself says that "position and momentum, cannot both have precise values at the same time." Does that mean the values don't even exist or that humans can't KNOW them precisely... if the second... why the HELL IS THERE the word 'cannot' in that Wikipedia statement?)