12/13/2023 0 Comments Quantum mechanics and infinitesimalsIn the 1910s, Danish physicist Niels Bohr tried to describe the internal structure of atoms using quantum mechanics. How does quantum mechanics describe atoms? In 1924, French physicist Louis de Broglie used the equations of Einstein's theory of special relativity (opens in new tab) to show that particles can exhibit wave-like characteristics and that waves can exhibit particle-like characteristics - a finding for which he won the Nobel Prize a few years later (opens in new tab). Even when a single electron is shot through the slits at a time, the interference pattern shows up - an effect akin to a single electron interfering with itself. This pattern of dark and bright bands makes sense only if the electrons are waves, with crests (high points) and troughs (low points), that can interfere with one another. Instead, when the experiment is conducted, an interference pattern forms on the screen. If the electrons were particles, they would create two bright lines where they had impacted the screen after passing through one or the other of the slits, according to a popular article in Nature (opens in new tab). This can be most famously seen in the double-slit experiment, where particles such as electrons are shot at a board with two slits cut into it, behind which sits a screen that lights up when an electron hits it. In quantum mechanics, particles can sometimes exist as waves and sometimes exist as particles. (Image credit: grayjay via Shutterstock) (opens in new tab) Here is a diagram of the double-slit experiment where electrons produce a wave pattern when two slits are used. It also explained how certain colors of light could eject electrons off metal surfaces - a phenomenon known as the photoelectric effect. With this new way to conceive of light, Einstein offered insights into the behavior of nine phenomena in his paper, including the specific colors that Planck described being emitted from a light bulb filament. This is where the "quantum" part of quantum mechanics comes from. (opens in new tab)"Įinstein envisioned light traveling not as a wave, but as some manner of "energy quanta." This packet of energy, Einstein suggested in his paper, could "be absorbed or generated only as a whole," specifically when an atom "jumps" between quantized vibration rates. Planck himself didn't believe in either atoms or discrete bits of light, but his concept was given a boost in 1905, when Einstein published a paper, " Concerning an Heuristic Point of View Toward the Emission and Transformation of Light. This idea flew in the face of ideas about light at the time, when most physicists believed that light was a continuous wave and not a tiny packet. The problem was that Boltzmann's work relied on the fact that any given gas was made from tiny particles, meaning that light, too, was made from discrete bits. Planck realized that equations used by physicist Ludwig Boltzmann to describe the behavior of gases could be translated into an explanation for this relationship between temperature and color. Game theory, economics, logic, philosophy, mathematics, cognitive science,Ĭryptography, and auction theory, as well as to application specialists usingįormal and mathematical methods and tools.In 1900, German physicist Max Planck was trying to explain why objects at specific temperatures, like the 1,470-degree-Fahrenheit (800 degrees Celsius) filament of a light bulb, glowed a specific color - in this case, red, according to the Perimeter Institute (opens in new tab). Interdisciplinary: it will be of interest to researchers in the fields ofĪrtificial intelligence, agents, computer science, knowledge representation, The scope of Knowledge, Rationality and Action is The journal includes a section on Knowledge, Rationality and Action as a The journal focuses on the role of mathematical, logical and linguistic methods in the general methodology of science and the foundations of different sciences. The journal explores symbolic logic and foundations of mathematics relevant to the philosophy and methodology of science and those facets of the ethics, history and sociology of science which are important for contemporary topical pursuits. Coverage includes the theory of knowledge general methodological problems of science, of induction and probability, of causation and the role of mathematics, statistics and logic in science and the methodological and foundational problems of different sciences. Synthese spans the topics of Epistemology, Methodology and Philosophy of Science.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |