Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Vocab for Heisenberg

An interference pattern is the pattern that results from when two waves interfere with one another.  If two crests meet, the waves become amplified.  If a high point on a wave meets a low point on another wave, the wave becomes interrupted and de-intensified.

Quanta are small units of energy in Quantam Mechanics.  Photons are small units of light energy.  These can be contrasted with particles, which are thought to be basic units of energy in the system of Newtonian Mechanics.  Particles were thought to move in a continuous manner, whereas quanta move in large jumps (quantum jumps).

Fourier Expansion was used to explain the movement of heat through a surface.  The idea was that the movement of heat cannot be explained in one general theory but must be explained by appealing to explanations of the different parts of the larger event.

A parameter is a feature of a body that can be measured, such as velocity and location.

Superposition is a state in which a body has many values for any given parameter such as velocity, location, etc.  In this state, there are many overlapping and co-existing values for each parameter.  This is the state of things before we observe them.  For example, before we observe an electron, there is no given fact about the position of the electron.  The electron is rather co-located at many different positions.





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