- #1
Zeeboozoo
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I understand this topic has been brought up before, however there appears to be "truth" or "lies" and very little in between when it comes to explaining the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) to students of freshman chemistry.
I'm teaching university general chemistry to students who've had no physics. Some have vague memories of trigonometry.
I need them to have an understanding of HUP. I've gone the route of explanation using compression of sin waves before with no luck - they're simply left confused. Treating an electron like a particle and speaking of uncertainty in momentum introduced via conservation of energy principles upon measurement works, however is argued to be "heresy." Some students can "see" the wave function is collapsed once position has been determined (via a picture), however they don't understand it nor can they envision it.
If anyone has come up with a good educational model for students who have not yet taken physics, I'd be very grateful to hear from you.
Thanks!
I'm teaching university general chemistry to students who've had no physics. Some have vague memories of trigonometry.
I need them to have an understanding of HUP. I've gone the route of explanation using compression of sin waves before with no luck - they're simply left confused. Treating an electron like a particle and speaking of uncertainty in momentum introduced via conservation of energy principles upon measurement works, however is argued to be "heresy." Some students can "see" the wave function is collapsed once position has been determined (via a picture), however they don't understand it nor can they envision it.
If anyone has come up with a good educational model for students who have not yet taken physics, I'd be very grateful to hear from you.
Thanks!