Re: A quiet query from a visitor

On 28 Aug., 15:20, Angus Rodgers <twir...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:06:44 -0700, "S.W.Christensen"

<s...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It's not that there are not examples of quantum theory failing to
predict nature correctly, but the answer of the quacks to these
examples is that "such things are not predictable. So, there!"

Bearing my ignorance in mind (I studied physics to
university scholarship level, then dropped it like
a hot potato - and that was decades ago!), can you
give some idea of what these examples look like?


Sure. A classic one is the time it takes before an excited electron
(in an atom) falls back to a lower energy level. Quantum physics says
nothing about that, and quantum physicists generally reject that
another theory could possibly predict the timing.

More generally, quantum physics is infused with probability, and all
phenomena are said to happen with a certain probability (less than
unity) only. Hence, the quantum physicists reject the possibility of
predicting these phenomena with certainty. For example (and this is
another classic one): given an object, locked into a massive safe, and
left alone there forever. Will it be inside the safe after 10 billion
years? According to quantum theory it might not, because it might have
drifted out of the box by mere chance. Actually, that can be stated
more dramatically by considering whether it will be there still after
0.00000001 seconds. The answer would be the same: uncertain! (Of
course, the probability of it still being inside would be very near
unity in the latter case, but not in the former).

I may be mistaken about this, because it's been a while since I
studied optics, but as far as I know quantum theory has no
explanations for various optical phenomena; e.g. why changing the
polarisation of one arm of a laser beam after the splitting point,
will result in the polarisation of the other arm changing too. Or why
the characteristic interference pattern arises in the dual-slid
experiment even if the photons are emitted one at a time.

Best regards,

Stefan W. Christensen

.

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