Sometimes the biggest puzzle in physics seems like the worst relationship in the universe. Quantum mechanics and general relativity are the two best theories in physics, but they have never been able to get along.That's right, no experiment can re-create the beginning of the Big Bang, or the center of a black hole. And that is why there is no conflict between quantum mechanics and relativity.
Quantum mechanics successfully describes the world of the very small, where nothing is predictable and objects don’t have precise positions until they are observed.
General relativity does well with describing massive objects. It says that the world behaves in a precise, predictable way, whether or not it’s observed.
Neither one has ever failed an experimental test. But so far no experiment has been able to show which — if either — of the two theories will hold up in the places where the two converge, such as the beginning of the universe and the center of a black hole.
Saturday, February 17, 2018
No real conflict between quantum and relativity
In a PBS TV Nova physics blog, a Harvard post-doc writes:
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Refreshing! Correct statements for once. Give them a gold star!
ReplyDeleteYes!!! I have always thought this!
ReplyDeleteAnd too, nobody knows how gravity behaves at the beginning of the universe or inside a black hole.
And too, nobody knows how quantum mechanics behaves at the beginning of the universe or inside a black hole.
Furthermore, nobody knows how unicorns behave at the beginning of the universe or inside a black hole.
It seems to me that the reason why physicists went in the direction of trying to unify physics through string theory is because they were so successful with the standard model that they ran out of fundamental questions, so they made up questions that could not possibly be answered in order to keep their jobs as theoretical physicists.
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