On Sun, Oct 4, 2015 at 5:26 AM, Telmo Menezes <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >> >> From a philosophical point of view the universal wave equation is of no >> more importance than lines of latitude and longitude, only the square of >> the absolute value is of any importance and even then it is only a >> probability, at least latitude and longitude define a exact position. >> > > > > Perhaps you mean from a practical view? > > From a philosophical view, the mathematical entity from where the > probabilities are derived seems quite interesting. > The probabilities are interesting but the wave itself not so much. Latitude and longitude and Schrodinger's Wave are all important from a practical point of view because they are tools to help us understand reality, but we should remember they are not reality they are human tools. If you want to talk about reality you've got to square the wave function, and even then all you get is a probability not a certainty. And it is even further removed from reality than that because the wave function contains imaginary numbers (square root of -1) so 2 very different wave functions can yield the exact same probability at a point when you square it. And Schrodinger's Wave is not the only tool that can find those probabilities; about 6 months before Schrodinger invented his wave Heisenberg used Matrix mechanics , which has nothing to do with waves , to find probabilities. For a few years there was debate about which method was correct then it was discovered the 2 methods were equivalent. The decision to use waves or matrices to solve a particular real world problem, that is to say find a real world probability, is entirely a matter of taste. Sometimes it makes things easier to calculate using one method and sometimes it's easier to use the other, but they both work. It is true that unlike Heisenberg's more abstract Matrix Schrodinger's wave does allow you to form a mental picture in your mind about what's going on but Physicists have both tools in their toolbox. John K Clark -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
