maajdl said:
It is precisely the fact that quantum weirdness isn't seen everyday, that makes it weird.
You mean in the trivial sense that everydayness is, by definition, the opposite of weird?
So rephrase the question to this definition: how come the uncommon effects of QM are not more apparent on everyday scales?
lightlamb said:
Quantum physics is based on unpredictability.
... not exactly.
Is it not rather based on varying levels of predictability?
But even if we accept that - the question under consideration is how things get to be as predictable as they are despite this underlying unpredictability.
Image that you are watching an archer shoot an arrow and you don't know if your going to see the beginning, or end. You will randomly appear after he/she already shoots the arrow.
Then you know you cannot see the beginning but you may see the end.
[Grammar Nazi says: After he/she shoots the arrow or after he/she has already
shot the arrow?]
Quantum physics can only be measured during a single point in time and space.
Quantum physics cannot be measured at all - any more than mathematics or an idea can be measured.
You measure physical properties.
Measurement in QM seldom happens at exactly one point at one time... our equipment is neither zero dimensional nor instant.
I know this seems pedantic but one of the banes of the science world is when people go out of their way to play-up the weird mystery of science by using unclear terms.
MightyKaykoher said:
I think ( but may be wrong ) quantum mechanics allows for practically anything to happen.
You
are wrong ;)
Time alone cannot make a purely statistical event certain, no matter how likely it is, unless it started out with a probability of 1. But you are thinking in terms of "infinite" time. It is not clear that the Universe
has an infinite amount of time to play around with - we certainly don't. "Everything is possible with infinite time" makes a trite aphorism but it is otherwise useless.
What we usually care about, is some sort of functional infinity - like the length of time before the research grant can no longer be reliably renewed. We try to propose physics which has a chance of being verified in this sort of time frame.
The apple vanishing due to quantum uncertainty in the position of each of it's components is something that cannot happen because of the quantum mechanics of the apple. Its like each bit is keeping track of the other bits through the EM interaction - so the bits don't get to wander off. You also won't get it to exhibit wave-like properties in bulk. Fire it at narrow enough slits and you get to demonstrate it's sauce-like properties instead.
Have the three of you actually read the preceding thread at all?