In the course of scientific advances man has gained ability to look ever deeper and further. Fundamental idea that there will eventually be one smallest piece of matter which cannot be divided into smaller ones is astonishingly old. In matter of fact that idea is quite ancient. It dates back to c. 400 BCE and it was, if not invented, at least promoted by Greek philosopher Democritus and his mentor Leusippus. Of course much has changed in the way to pursuit the tiniest particles. Still one cannot but wonder how come people 2500 years ago already come up with same hypothesis that scientist today claim with the help of their modern equipment.
Nowadays scientist have named and categorized at least 25 "fundamental" sub-atomic particles some which, like protons, are already believed being composed of even smaller pieces called quarks. Higgs boson is the latest entry in this group of sub-atomic crew. And there's not clearly a stop for detecting and adding yet more particles.
Smallest theoretical length, so called Planck length is 10^-35 m and size of a electron is less than 10^-15 m. So theoretically even smaller sub-sub-atomic or sub-sub-sub-atomic structures are possible. However it is getting harder and harder to research anything smaller than what has already been found out because of the uncertainty principle. More accurate measurement changes the reality of particle-on-measure further.
When we focus our mind on the tiniest scale in the quantum world along comes the concept of probability. Our everyday life can be relatively well predicted because we can measure our clumsy movement by dividing it into smaller pieces and different forces. But eventually there will be a limit (no matter if it has been already reached or not!) that you cannot divide movement or matter into smaller components. Then the only thing that is certain is the probability. Some people find this idea troubling. But they really can't do anything about it, they just have to live with it. This probability is the fundamental description of nature when we look at the double-slit experiment or in puzzling quantum entanglement phenomena.
I have already written few thoughts on double-slit experiment, but haven't mentioned the concept of probability in it even thought it seems to be quite fundamental part of it and whole quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics state that a particle is in a "Probability distribution" and cannot be located in any precise location before it has been measured. Einstein for example never accepted this and once famously said "God doesn't play with dice." Considering the fact that probability waves give precise accurate prediction in numerous test settings and explains many concepts like quantum tunneling I have to agree with him. God doesn't play with dice, god IS a dice.
Nowadays scientist have named and categorized at least 25 "fundamental" sub-atomic particles some which, like protons, are already believed being composed of even smaller pieces called quarks. Higgs boson is the latest entry in this group of sub-atomic crew. And there's not clearly a stop for detecting and adding yet more particles.
Smallest theoretical length, so called Planck length is 10^-35 m and size of a electron is less than 10^-15 m. So theoretically even smaller sub-sub-atomic or sub-sub-sub-atomic structures are possible. However it is getting harder and harder to research anything smaller than what has already been found out because of the uncertainty principle. More accurate measurement changes the reality of particle-on-measure further.
Would you reproach?
I have already written few thoughts on double-slit experiment, but haven't mentioned the concept of probability in it even thought it seems to be quite fundamental part of it and whole quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics state that a particle is in a "Probability distribution" and cannot be located in any precise location before it has been measured. Einstein for example never accepted this and once famously said "God doesn't play with dice." Considering the fact that probability waves give precise accurate prediction in numerous test settings and explains many concepts like quantum tunneling I have to agree with him. God doesn't play with dice, god IS a dice.
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| Clip art examples of different shaped and colored gods... I mean dices. |
