Sand wrote:
I cannot claim any familiarity with the indeterminate mathematics involved in subatomic particle observations but just on the macro cosmic level if the world was totally indeterminate no predictions of any kind could be made as to cause and effect. That we can predict at least a good body of action-reaction phenomena indicates that there is a strong determinist element in normal life. Obviously the existence of natural laws indicates that there is enough determinism in effect to permit enough long term predictions to make life livable. That the positions of astronomic bodies can be made with reasonable accuracy centuries in advance indicates a strong determinist element active in nature, whatever the indeterminate nature of atomic particles.
For systems with very large masses, the quantum "jitters" average out. Non-relativistic quantum physics converge to Newtonian physics on the average. The indeterminateness required by Heisenberg's principle does not manifest itself too much in systems that move slow (compared to light) and have large mass.
Classical physics breaks down completely at the atomic and subatomic level. Classically, stable atoms are impossible. If it were not for quantum indeterminateness, an atom would collapse in about 10^-11 seconds (apply Larmour's formula) . But atoms don't collapse, so the classical theory is wrong.
Classical theory cannot account for the periodic table, but the Pauli Exclusion principle does. Classical physics cannot account for electron or orbital spin, nor does it account for tunneling.
The completely deterministic physics based on purely mechanical principles is empirically incorrect. That is why relativity and quantum theory turned physics on its head at the dawn of the 20-th century.
ruveyn
I m not denying what you say but nevertheless if indeterminism was a rigid general rule our lives would, if they could exist under those circumstances, be totally chaotic. Obviously they are not. The "averaging out of quantum jitters" is not a trivial part of our existence.
18 Jun 2009, 10:05 am
