I Can someone explain why momentum does not commute with potential?

coolpoke0908
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
TL;DR Summary
So I only have a vague understanding of what commutators represent. I understand the example between momentum and position, but I don't understand why you cannot know the potential and the momentum of a particle at the same time.
My assumption is that knowing potential can lead to knowing the position, but I don't know how this can be.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
If by "potential" you mean "potential energy as a function of position", there is a clue right there.
 
  • Like
Likes coolpoke0908
Vanadium 50 said:
If by "potential" you mean "potential energy as a function of position", there is a clue right there.
Oh! Okay that makes sense! Thank you!
 
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
If we release an electron around a positively charged sphere, the initial state of electron is a linear combination of Hydrogen-like states. According to quantum mechanics, evolution of time would not change this initial state because the potential is time independent. However, classically we expect the electron to collide with the sphere. So, it seems that the quantum and classics predict different behaviours!
Back
Top