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CSflim · 04-12-2004, 10:45 AM

Stompy, the reason you and I see things "normally" is because all of the abnormal things cancel each other out.

For instance one of the first things a high school phsics student learns about optics is that when a light beam hits a mirror, it is reflected off in such a way that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.

[IMG]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RgDyAi0VnerMKybe98n0lP9dSynV71Qvj9meDax4TAPHTKDvhXHlBNka8vleyKyAX2kbxhj6L8jNhziszbZjycaE!EZNcX8XzM*hkOSYfHs/qm10.gif?dc=4675467795118108168[/IMG]

What QM tells us is that the photon takes every path at once.

In the second part of this image, we can see the time taken for each of the routes A - M. Each "sub-route" has an "arrow" associated with it. To find work out the "arrow" for the route as a whole we simply add up the arrows of the "sub-routes" like you would vectors. (by lining them all up head-to-tail). You can see the result in the third part of the image. The long black line is the "arrow" for the route as a whole. If you look closely you will realise that A, B, C and D effectively cancel each other out, as fo J, K, L and M. The bulk of the arrow is made up from the contributions of F, G, H and I. As you can see from the first part of the image, this represents the "sub-route" of refelecting in the manner as predicted by classical physics.

So all of the "crazy" sub-routes cancel each other out, but the "normal" win out, and so we get the observations as made in classical physics.

All of these diagrams have been taken from Quantum-Electrodynamics by Richard Feynman. This is a very accesible account of quantum mechanics, and I highly reccomend it. It will explain what all these "arrows" mean!!

04-12-2004, 10:45 AM	#3 (permalink)
CSflim Sky Piercer Location: Ireland	Stompy, the reason you and I see things "normally" is because all of the abnormal things cancel each other out. For instance one of the first things a high school phsics student learns about optics is that when a light beam hits a mirror, it is reflected off in such a way that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. [IMG]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RgDyAi0VnerMKybe98n0lP9dSynV71Qvj9meDax4TAPHTKDvhXHlBNka8vleyKyAX2kbxhj6L8jNhziszbZjycaE!EZNcX8XzMhkOSYfHs/qm10.gif?dc=4675467795118108168[/IMG] What QM tells us is that the photon takes every path at once. In the second part of this image, we can see the time taken for each of the routes A - M. Each "sub-route" has an "arrow" associated with it. To find work out the "arrow" for the route as a whole we simply add up the arrows of the "sub-routes" like you would vectors. (by lining them all up head-to-tail). You can see the result in the third part of the image. The long black line is the "arrow" for the route as a whole. If you look closely you will realise that A, B, C and D effectively cancel each other out, as fo J, K, L and M. The bulk of the arrow is made up from the contributions of F, G, H and I. As you can see from the first part of the image, this represents the "sub-route" of refelecting in the manner as predicted by classical physics. So all of the "crazy" sub-routes cancel each other out, but the "normal" win out, and so we get the observations as made in classical physics. All of these diagrams have been taken from Quantum-Electrodynamics by Richard Feynman. This is a very* accesible account of quantum mechanics, and I highly reccomend it. It will explain what all these "arrows" mean!! __________________ Last edited by CSflim; 04-12-2004 at 11:19 AM..