Beschreibung:
"Venture into the quantum world, where objects can be in two places at the same time and a certain minus sign is the most consequential in the universe. The ideas and phenomena of the quantum world are strikingly unlike those encountered in our visual world. Surfing the Quantum World shows why and how this is so. It does this via a gentle introduction to the fundamental principles of quantum theory, whose core concepts and symbolic representations are used to explain not only "ordinary" microscopic phenomena like the properties of the hydrogen atom and the structure of the Periodic Table of the Elements, but also a variety of mind-bending phenomena. Readers will learn that particles such as electrons and photons can behave like waves, allowing them to be in two places simultaneously, why white dwarf and neutron stars are gigantic quantum objects, how the maximum height of mountains has a quantum basis, and why quantum objects can tunnel through seemingly impenetrable barriers. Included among the various interpretational issues addressed is whether Schrodinger's cat is ever both dead and alive"--
Introduction -- The nature of science -- The nature of light -- The reality of atoms -- The Quantum Hypothesis -- The nuclear atom -- Creating quantum mechanics -- Quantum boxes, stringed instruments -- Quantum theory -- The hydrogen atom and its colorful photons -- Spin 1/2 and the Periodic Table -- Interference phenomena: exploring the essential mystery -- Macroscopic manifestations of quantum mechanics -- Quantum tunneling -- Entanglement and the elements of reality -- Schrödinger's Cat and the meaning of it all -- Appendix A. A list of symbols, etc. -- Appendix B. Powers of ten -- Appendix C. Energy, mass, momentum, angular momentum -- Appendix D. Vectors and coordinate systems -- Appendix E. Notes on probability