Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The Four Great Beasts of Physics
Schrödinger's Cat
This is a thought experiment proposed by Erwin Schrödinger in relation to Quantum Physics.
Imagine a cat placed inside a sealed box containing an atomic device. If the atom undergoes decay, a poison gas will be released, resulting in the cat's death. However, whether the atom has decayed remains unknown.
To determine the cat's fate, one must open the box. This leads to a dilemma. If the box remains closed, most people would assume that the cat has two possibilities: it is either dead or alive, and one can only know the outcome by opening the box.
The peculiarity of quantum mechanics lies in the fact that as long as the box is not opened, we will never know whether the cat is dead or alive; thus, it exists in a superposition of states—both dead and alive at once. This is what makes Schrödinger's Cat unique.
If this reasoning holds true, then not just the cat but all things in existence remain in an uncertain superposition as long as they are not observed, transforming the principle of uncertainty from the microscopic to the macroscopic realm. Objective laws do not change based on human consciousness; thus, the cat being both dead and alive contradicts logical reasoning.
As one of the Four Great Beasts of Physics, Schrödinger's Cat has sparked considerable debate and remains the only surviving entity among them.
With advancements in Quantum Physics, Schrödinger's Cat has also led to discussions about parallel universes and philosophical controversies. Although various scholars have attempted macro experiments, they have been unable to prove the existence of multiple universes; they can only demonstrate that quantum randomness does not equate to determinism.
Zeno's Tortoise
Why can the fastest runner in the world never catch up to a tortoise?
Achilles is a hero from ancient Greece known for his running prowess. When he races against a tortoise, suppose the tortoise crawls 1 meter in 5 seconds while Achilles can run 10 meters per second. To ensure fairness, Achilles allows the tortoise to start 100 meters ahead before he begins to chase.
However, mathematician Zeno argues that Achilles will never catch up to the tortoise. When Achilles covers 100 meters, the tortoise has moved ahead by 10 meters. Achilles must then set off again to pursue it. But by the time Achilles runs those 10 meters, the tortoise has moved forward another meter.
In this way, time and distance can be divided infinitely, and the tortoise will create countless starting points. It can always create a distance between the starting point and itself. No matter how small this distance is, as long as the tortoise keeps crawling forward, Achilles will never catch up with the tortoise. This is the tortoise of Zeno in Physics that can shrink the earth into an inch. The reason why Achilles can never catch up with the tortoise is that Zeno believes that time can be divided infinitely and there is always a shorter time interval. This seems to be a sophistry paradox, but it is actually questioning the nature of time and wondering whether there is a minimum time interval. It was not until thousands of years later that the birth of quantum mechanics solved the Zeno problem. In quantum mechanics, Planck Time is the shortest time interval in the universe. Similarly, the shortest unit of length in the universe is called Planck Length. From this perspective, the tortoise cannot create infinite starting points, but will touch the Planck time range after a short time, and this is the moment when Achilles catches up with the tortoise. In fact, the significance of the turtle in Zeno lies in the human exploration of the nature of time. Perhaps in the distant future, we can create a time machine and travel through time and space. Maxwell's Demon, one of the four mythical beasts in Physics. Maxwell's Demon, which can reverse time and space, is a hypothetical demon proposed by Physics expert Michael Siwei in response to the Entropy Increase Law. Suppose an insulated container is divided into two equal boxes, with a small demon in the middle controlling a small door. When the molecules in the container perform irregular thermal motion, they will hit the small door in the middle, and this small demon can accurately detect and control the movement of individual molecules, and throw the slow-moving molecules into the left and the fast-moving molecules into the right, so that the originally temperature-balanced insulated container appears. The temperature of one box is higher than that of the other box. Under the control of the small demon, the left and right parts of the two equal boxes form a temperature difference, realizing spontaneous entropy reduction. The emergence of this situation violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics Entropy Increase Law. According to the Entropy Increase Law, without external intervention, the flow of heat from high temperature to low temperature is irreversible. As energy continues to decrease at the cosmic level, the final outcome of the universe is to move towards the darkness of nothingness and become dead silent.
If Maxwell's Demon were proven to exist, it would allow for the retrieval of spilled water and the mending of broken mirrors, enabling the creation of a Second-Class Stirling Engine that defies the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The universe could then transition from commercialism to rebirth.
In the realm of Physics, there exists the legendary Laplace's Demon.
This entity possesses immense power and knowledge, capable of calculating any past or future event in the universe. This hypothetical being was proposed by the physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace in the early 19th century.
Laplace believed that by viewing the current state of the universe as both the result of the past and the cause of the future, one could deduce every atom's exact position and momentum. Using Newton's Laws, one could reveal the universe's past and future—this is the omniscient and omnipotent Laplace's Demon.
Under this theory, the world transforms into a precise instrument, where every event, every planet, and everything in the universe seems predetermined. The experiences of individuals from birth to death are all thought to be prearranged.
This notion filled many people of that time with despair, leading them to view Laplace's Demon not as a divine being but as a terrifying demon.
To eradicate this demon's existence, it wasn't until the early 20th century, with the rise of quantum mechanics and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, that it conflicted with Laplace's deterministic view regarding initial conditions and laws of interaction.
With the emergence of Chaos Theory and Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, it suggested that human behavior possesses a degree of randomness and unpredictability, rekindling hope for free will.
Ultimately, after existing in Western thought for just a century, Laplace's Demon met its demise, becoming the shortest-lived among the four legendary entities in Physics.
Comment 0 Comment Count