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SinJin · 06-24-2005, 12:27 AM

I always thought of this one analogy for the uncertainty principle, although I'm not sure how correct it is. If you have a car that is constantly moving, and you want to know it's speed, you have to take a snapshot of the car's location, wait for a few moments to pass, and then take a snapshot of it's new location. You can then aquire the car's speed using the two locations, along with the lapsed time. But if you have the cars speed, then it is in motion, and does not have a specific location. On the other hand, if you take a snapshot of the car's location, it's not in motion and has no speed. Hence if you know one, you can't know the other.

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SinJin Blue Belt Status: Offline Posts: 120 Thanks Given: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Join Date: Jun 2005 Rep Power: 15	06-24-2005, 12:27 AM I always thought of this one analogy for the uncertainty principle, although I'm not sure how correct it is. If you have a car that is constantly moving, and you want to know it's speed, you have to take a snapshot of the car's location, wait for a few moments to pass, and then take a snapshot of it's new location. You can then aquire the car's speed using the two locations, along with the lapsed time. But if you have the cars speed, then it is in motion, and does not have a specific location. On the other hand, if you take a snapshot of the car's location, it's not in motion and has no speed. Hence if you know one, you can't know the other.