4 results for stemmed:complementar
principle
complementarity
uncertainty
quantum
Heisenberg
2. For those who are interested: As soon as Seth mentioned the “psychological activity” of atoms and molecules, I was intuitively and strongly aware of connections between his statement and at least two principles of modern physics. Yet I hesitated. “I know my feelings are right,” I told Jane, “but how do I explain them in a few words and make any sense?” I was also constrained by the limits of my own knowledge. Especially, though, I sensed relationships between Seth’s idea on the one hand, and both the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics and the principle of complementarity on the other.
The complementarity principle (stated by Bohr in 1928) resolves the seeming paradox posed by contradictory experiments that show how light, for example, can be regarded as consisting of either waves or particles. Both experiments and conclusions are right — and mutually exclusive; whichever result is obtained is due to the nature of the particular experiment.
Jane is largely unfamiliar with the details of the uncertainty principle and the principle of complementarity, although the general ideas fascinate her. Her feelings for these works of science, then, are the same as those she has for the ether; see Note 1 for Session 822.
neural
sleepwalkers
hinterland
unit
particles
[...] He gave me a knowing, half-smiling look while delivering this paragraph, for it was obvious that his material was related to a note I’d shown Jane today—one I’m finishing for Mass Events. In it, I’m trying to deal very simply with both the uncertainty principle and the complementarity of light, among other tenets of physics. [...]
