Re: Why is Quantum Mechanics so successful?

From: PD (pdraper_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 01/06/05 

Date: 6 Jan 2005 13:42:14 -0800

Lawrence wrote:
> Hi Bjoern,
>

[snip. Excuse me for jumping in]

>
>
> I mean why is QM so successful. Is it because its atomic
> model such as probability clouds of electrons around the
> atom is so accurate or infallible meaning no other atomic
> model can replace it?

[snip to distill to the point]

>
> In terms of what? I mean, is it because the energy states
> that goes from ground to excited states can occur from the
> electron point of view? Is there no atomic model substitute
> that can produce the same effect? Has anyone actualy image
> an atom and prove beyond the shadow of doubt that there are
> really electrons around the nucleus and the nucleus is
> really composed of protons and neutrons? Maybe there are
> other models that can explain the results in
> JJ Thomson, Chadwick, etc. experiments?
>

[snip]

>
> What if Bohr QM is wrong in the first place, one may be
> using the Schroedinger's wave mechanics to patch it up.
> I'm just thinking what if there is another atomic model
> that can explain them all.
>

[snip]

>
> Light quanta. Why is it not continuous? What is the
> primary reason for its behavior.
>

I can see some of what you're wrestling with. You must be saying to
yourself something like, "But quantum mechanics is so strange! It makes
no intuitive sense! Why should the world be this way? Surely there is a
way to come up with another model that makes intuitive sense AND has
the same success predicting reality."

There's two answers.

First, others have TRIED to come up with a non-quantum theory that does
as well as quantum mechanics or quantum field theory. None has held
together in the last century. That doesn't mean that it's impossible
that one day somebody might stumble on a better description and which
reproduces all of quantum mechanics' results. Normally, one would
expect this to be a deeper theory which reduces to quantum mechanics
under some limiting conditions.

Second, many people have worried about what quantum mechanics really
means. There is a whole area of research/philosophy called the
foundations of quantum mechanics. However, it may simply be that nature
is what it is, and "strange" is in the eye of the beholder. It's often
the case that to understand the true, elegant simplicity of nature, one
has to abandon preconceived notions of "naturalness" that are in fact
unnecessary and unrealistic.

PD

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