In Simple Terms: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
[caption id="attachment_26306" align="alignright" width="480"] L to R: Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli[/caption]Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) was yet another bright German physicist. He was a "founder" of quantum mechanics, the physics of the subatomic. As with astrophysics, behavior at this level appears to vary from the physics of the everyday world. A Brief Description The velocity of an auto of mass m can be measured accurately. If its velocity remains constant, its location over time is predictable. This is the norm according to ordinary human experience. Yet, at submicroscopic levels, physicists experienced something different. For certain measurements, various pairs of variables could not both be accurately known simultaneously. Simultaneous measurement is only precise to a point. These pairs of variables are termed conjugate variables. The Standard Example The simplest example is…