Atomic Collision

jneuman712 · #1 02-25-2010, 11:54 PM

Can we determine the "exact position" of atoms at the moment of their collision?

Ackbeet · #2 06-15-2010, 01:43 PM

That depends on how you're trying to answer the question. Theoretically, in classical mechanics, the particle has a definite position to begin with. In quantum mechanics, that is not so. Heisenberg will always get his due. You can measure a statistical ensemble of collisions, and for those measurements, the better you know the standard deviation of the momenta, the worse you will know the standard deviation of the positions, and vice versa.

jneuman712 · #3 06-22-2010, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ackbeet

That depends on how you're trying to answer the question. Theoretically, in classical mechanics, the particle has a definite position to begin with. In quantum mechanics, that is not so. Heisenberg will always get his due. You can measure a statistical ensemble of collisions, and for those measurements, the better you know the standard deviation of the momenta, the worse you will know the standard deviation of the positions, and vice versa.

Thank you sir for replying to my post.. it's been a long time since i made this post and I thought no one will answer it.. anyway I have read Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.. I've also read about the Holographic principle which states that we are living in two different universe having different dimensions.. Is it possible that at times that you can only know the momentum of a particle because it is non-local (the particle is located in the other universe) but at the moment of collision you can point their exact position because it is now visible and physically present in the holographic universe.

Ackbeet · #4 06-23-2010, 04:04 AM

The holographic principle is purely speculative, as far as I know. I doubt there's much experimental basis for or against it. As such, I would hesitate to make very many deductions based on it.