I Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and macroscopic objects

wnvl2
Messages
62
Reaction score
14
Is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) applicable to macroscopic objects? A football, for instance, is composed of an enormous number of particles. Can the applicability of the HUP to a macroscopic object like a football be demonstrated through statistical methods, starting from the behavior of elementary particles? Are there any references or research that support this approach? Alternatively, should the principle be derived directly from the commutation relations between momentum and position, extended to macroscopic objects while accounting for all interactions between their constituent particles?

I understand that macroscopic behavior is generally not sensitive to quantum fluctuations, but I am curious about the theoretical justification and derivation of the HUP at this scale.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
wnvl2 said:
Alternatively, should the principle be derived directly from the commutation relations between momentum and position, extended to macroscopic objects while accounting for all interactions between their constituent particles?
The de Broglie wavelength of a macroscopic solid body gives you the uncertainty of its center of mass. You can check that by transforming the system into center of mass and reduced coordinates. This is a linear canonical transformation of the spatial coordinats, and the Schrödinger equation of non-relativistic QM is invariant under those.
 
wnvl2 said:
Is the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (HUP) applicable to macroscopic objects?
Yes, but you will find it interesting to calculate the uncertainty for a reasonable sized macroscopic object (say, a grain of sand that might have a mass of .1 milligrams).
 
  • Like
Likes FactChecker
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!
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
Back
Top