[New post] The YouTube Greats Explain Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

New post on From Quarks to Quasars The YouTube Greats Explain Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle by FQtQ Contributor The internet is a fantastic recourse. Well, it can be. Unfortunately, it can also be a horrid cesspool of misinformation. The key is knowing where to look and who you can (mostly) trust. Here, some of the most popular YouTubers explain some pretty complicate physics (might want to bookmark these channels). Heisenberg's uncertainty principle tells us that it is impossible to simultaneously measure the position and momentum of a particle with precision. In our everyday lives we virtually never come up against this limit, hence why it seems peculiar. Here, MinutePhysics explains how it works: If it's still not totally clear, here's a handy explanation for SciShow: In this experiment a laser is shone through a narrow slit onto a screen. As the slit is made narrower, the spot on the screen also becomes narrower. But at a certain point, the spot starts becoming wider. This is because the photons of light have been so localised at the slit that their horizontal momentum must become less well defined in order to satisfy Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. FQtQ Contributor | March 14, 2015 at 12:41 pm | Tags: math, Physics, Science, Universe | Categories: Physics | URL: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/?p=37689