a question on incompatibility of properties in a one particle system

richardconers_at_yahoo.com
Date: 10/17/04 

Date: 16 Oct 2004 17:02:45 -0700

I understand that quantum mechanics asserts that position and momentum
(velocity?) cannot be simultaneously determined. Yet, what happens
when you measure the position of an electron as precisely as possible?

Suppose you shoot an electron at a phosphorus screen. At the moment
of impact, you have an exact measure of the position of the electron,
relative to the screen. You know the momentum/velocity of the screen
relative to itself (i.e., 0). That must mean that you have no
information whatever about the momentum of the electron. But you do.
You know that the absolute magnitude of the velocity of the electron
is surely less than or equal to what it was before the moment of
impact. Or can electrons, when striking an object at relative rest,
ricochet off that object at a greater velocity than when the electron
was approaching the object that it will strike? Are there laws of
thermodynamics that atomic particles obey, and some they don't obey?

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