Windows, Bubbles, Quantum-Schmantum

Windows, Bubbles, Quantum-Schmantum
Friday March 22nd, 2024 02:00 PM
Lab 4, D01 "restaurant"

Description

A physics lecture for non-physicists.
Title: Windows, Bubbles, Quantum-Schmantum.
Speaker: Yasha Neiman.

We'll talk about how "quantum", the simple fact that energy comes in discrete chunks, leads to "quantum-schmantum" - the strange and wonderful non-determinism of Quantum Mechanics. We'll use our everyday experience with light, windows, and soap bubbles. 

Features:
1. A history of ideas vis. the Heart of the World, with Quantum-Schmantum as version 3.0.
2. Circular polarization: a simpler kind of light.
3. The quantum rules of probability = arithmetic with complex numbers.
4. Are two hydrogen atoms exactly the same? Wait, how is that a scientific question?

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