- #1
- 64
- 0
By Uncertainty Principle speed of a particle cannot be constant. then speed of a single photon not?
No. I am not sure how you came up with this, so I don’t know how to address it.By Uncertainty Principle speed of a particle cannot be constant
According to uncertainty principle it's impossible to know the position and the momentum of a particle exactly simultaneously. The product of the uncertainties is >By Uncertainty Principle speed of a particle cannot be constant. then speed of a single photon not?
According to uncertainty principle it's impossible to know the position and the momentum of a particle exactly simultaneously.
That is untrue. It is a statement about ensembles of systems, not about individual particles.
I can measure the position of a particle with arbitrary precision and I can measure the momentum of a particle with arbitrary position, but this does not allow me to do the same for an ensemble. When I perform my arbitrarily precise measurements on each member of the ensemble, I will find that the results are distributed according to the uncertainty principle. As an extreme example, I can first measure the momentum of every particle in the ensemble and then discard those whose momentum does not fall in a specified and arbitrarily narrow range; this is a preparation procedure for an ensemble of particles with known momentum. Now nothing stops me from measuring their position; but I will find a spread of position values consistent with the uncertainty principle.If there was a way to determine the position and momentum of a single particle with arbitrary precision, it would violate it for an ensemble as well. Just repeat.
Talking about the probability distribution of a single measurement is like talking about the probability distribution of a single sample. Analogously, when I state that a tossed coin is biased to come up heads 60% of the time, I'm not saying anything about any one toss, I'm making a claim about the ratio of heads to tails in a hypothetical ensemble of identically prepared coins.In a statement like σx σp >= ħ/2 we're talking about a probability distribution for the position and momentum of a single particle.
But you're assuming in your example that the uncertainty principle applies to each particle. @willem2, I believe, is saying if the uncertainty principle doesn't apply to a single particle, as Vanadium implied, then you can determine the momentum and position of the particle to arbitrary precision at the same time. So to repeat your example, do this for a bunch of particles, discarding the ones that don't fall in the arbitrarily narrow ranges of position and momentum at the same time. You now know the momentum and position of the ensemble precisely.I can measure the position of a particle with arbitrary precision and I can measure the momentum of a particle with arbitrary position, but this does not allow me to do the same for an ensemble. When I perform my arbitrarily precise measurements on each member of the ensemble, I will find that the results are distributed according to the uncertainty principle. As an extreme example, I can first measure the momentum of every particle in the ensemble and then discard those whose momentum does not fall in a specified and arbitrarily narrow range; this is a preparation procedure for an ensemble of particles with known momentum. Now nothing stops me from measuring their position; but I will find a spread of position values consistent with the uncertainty principle.
You could also repeat the measurement multiple times with the same coin, and the underlying probability distribution will emerge.Talking about the probability distribution of a single measurement is like talking about the probability distribution of a single sample. Analogously, when I state that a tossed coin is biased to come up heads 60% of the time, I'm not saying anything about any one toss, I'm making a claim about the ratio of heads to tails in a hypothetical ensemble of identically prepared coins.
My understanding is that ##\Delta x## is a measure of the spread of position measurements on an ensemble of particles all in that state. Similarly, ##\Delta p## is the spread of momentum measurements made on a similarly prepared ensemble. Their product is a property of the state (and thus the ensemble).If the particle is in some state, you can calculate ##\Delta x## and ##\Delta p## based on that state, and the product of those two quantities will be greater than ##\hbar/2##. It has nothing to do with making measurements. It has to do with the waviness of nature at the quantum level.
That is not how I read his comment. To me it seems that he is talking about arbitrarily high precision for the position and momentum of a single particle.But you're assuming in your example that the uncertainty principle applies to each particle.
Simultaneously?That is not how I read his comment. To me it seems that he is talking about arbitrarily high precision for the position and momentum of a single particle.
YesSimultaneously?