From: WoZzA 03/12/2000 1:13:45 Subject: Applications of quantum mechanics post id: 180361 Explain. sincerely, WoZzA p.s. sorry to all u people who had expected me to have not wasted your time as usual. From: jason 03/12/2000 1:35:53 Subject: re: Applications of quantum mechanics post id: 180378 The application of Quantum mechanics, amongst other things i'm sure, is to try and unify the four fundamental forces of nature, into one grand unified theory. This is one application. There are various theories regarding the workings of the universe, and the various applications depend on the situation that is being theorised. This involves having one theory that can explain everything in regard to the workings of the universe, instead of relying on different theories for various situations. Hmm, i'm very tired, and it sounds like i'm repeating myself. Shall ponder more responses when i'm awake. jason From: B.C. ® 03/12/2000 8:38:25 Subject: re: Applications of quantum mechanics post id: 180501 Quantum mechanics is the theory of the sub-atomic as opposed to GR and SR which look after the macro side of things. What the holy grail of science is at the moment is to come up with a theory that will combine these two and unite the four basic forces.The force that is prooving stubborn is gravity.The closest we have got so far is string theory and its derivitives. A successful theory will be known as quantum gravity,or being able to quantisise gravity as we have the other three forces. The theoretical partical of gravity is the graviton. From: elouise 03/12/2000 10:09:14 Subject: re: Applications of quantum mechanics post id: 180525 Ha ha, sucked in WoZzA - you got a serious response without even wanting one. What next, people agreeing that Starshark has asked some relevant and interesting questions in the past? :) From: Tinka 03/12/2000 16:42:01 Subject: re: Applications of quantum mechanics post id: 180620 I'm glad someone brought this up actually. I'm reading a book called 'Timeline' by Michael Crichton (sp?). It details many concepts in quantum mechanics that I have never come accross. Has anyone read this book? If so, do you understand what the heck he's talking about? I grasp most of it, but some just goes straight over my head. Maybe I'm just dumb! :) For those who haven't read it. It talks about travelling through time, but not in your usual sciance fiction time-machine but rather by using a quantum computer and destroying the person in this world and kind of recreating them in a world that runs parrallel to ours through quantum foam. It is much more detailed than that but my mother is hassling me to get off the net.:( According to the quantum theory, there are multitudes of worlds existing alongside one another, creating what is termed a multiverse. Has Mr Crichton made this up purely for a good plot, or is he drawing on actual scientific assumptions due to the quantum theory? Tinka From: Boris ® 03/12/2000 16:48:17 Subject: re: Applications of quantum mechanics post id: 180621 Richard Feynman was a many worlds advocate. David Deutsch is a multverse theorist. Try his book "The Fabric or Reality" The multiverse veiw seems to explain the double slit experiment. It also gets rid of the paradoxes in time travel. Quantum computers would operate through the multiverse. These are only theories remember. From: Boris ® 03/12/2000 17:03:55 Subject: re: Applications of quantum mechanics post id: 180629 Re time travel. Going into the future is the easy one. All you need to do is get close to light speed and time dilation will take care of the rest. Deutschs' theory of time travel into the past, and the avoidence of paradoxes, revolves around the exsistence of the multiverse. The future is not pre-ordained. You can have the choice of say, going to the shop or not. Say you decide to go, then return home to your time machine, go back to the point before you you went to the shop, but this time not go. You now have two outcomes. Which is the real one? The answer is both are true. The difference is that there are now two histories and you are in the one in which you didn't visit the shop. If you now went forwards in time you will remain in that history and not return to the history where you did visit the shop. Travelling back in time will put you in another "universe", you can then never return to the one you left. You can only travel back in time up to the point where the time machine first exsisted, not before. If you want a more coherent explanation read D Deutsch. ;-) From: James R (Avatar) 03/12/2000 19:38:16 Subject: re: Applications of quantum mechanics post id: 180718 Applications of quantum mechanics? CD players, computers, cryptography, spectroscopy, making new materials, MRI scanners... This forum is un-moderated. The views and opinions expressed are those of the individual poster and not the ABC. The ABC reserves the right to remove offensive or inappropriate messages.