by Joseph Dean Klat

April 2005

Joseph Dean Klat

Our concepts of our environment do not die slowly. They neither crumble and rot into oblivion
nor do they grow beautiful with old age. They are systematically killed by men themselves. First,
suspicion is cast on them, and, they are defended for a while by traditionalists, but inevitably,
they are swiftly dispatched by scientific exploration.

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "A mind stretched to a new idea never returns to its original
dimensions."

CLASSICAL PHYSICS

Classical physics took form when Newton developed his theory of gravity and the mathematics
we commonly know as calculus. Newtonian physics were three dimensional: width, height and
depth. Three hundred years ago Isaac Newton declared space and time to be eternal and
immutable ingredients in the makeup of the cosmos; pristine structures lying beyond the bounds
of question and explanation. Newton wrote in Principia Mathmatica, "Absolute space in its
nature without relation to anything external remains always similar and immovable. Absolute,
true and mathematical time of itself and from its own nature flows equably without relation to
anything external."

Newton's theories of the universe, though they would be shown to be imprecise by Einstein,
served science well for centuries. Despite their inadequacies, they enabled the technological
innovations of the industrial revolution. A theory is a coherent model that guides one's thoughts,
a set of perceptions that can be modified until a beter theory is advanced. Newton's theories
included his theory of gravity for which he developed the calculus to describe it, his concept of
three dimensions in an infinite universe, his particle theory of light and his underlying belief
incorporated into his theories that there were, in fact, straight lines in nature. Newton's inquiries
concerning the physics of light resulted in the particle theory of light; i.e. each light ray traveled
in a straight line and had an incredibly small bit of mass.

QUANTUM MECHANICS
At the turn of the twentieth century, the German physicist, Max Planck, tried unsuccessfully to
apply Classical Physics to the smallest bits of mater and energy which the physics of large
objects could not explain or predict. The smallest bits of mater and energy seemed to roil
around independently defying all atempts to describe a predictable patern. Planck concluded
that energy exists only in distinct packages, which he called "quanta" rather than energy flowing
in a continuous stream like water. Energy comes in tiny lumps, in packets. A single packet is a
quantum and Planck's ideas were soon called the "quantum theory."

Planck's quanta were not like Newton's microscopic bullets of light. Quanta can behave like
particles and quanta can behave like waves. It seems counter-intuitive, but, light can be both
particles and waves and the difference depends fundamentally on how it is studied. When
physicists try to measure light as a particle, it behaves like a wave. When physicists try to
measure light as a wave, it behaves like a particle. This is known as the particle-wave duality.
Quantum theory encountered powerful opposition but, it worked. It allowed physicists to
understand things that could not be explained otherwise. Quantum mechanics opened the door
to new discoveries and new inventions. Sixty years after Planck announced his theory of
quantum mechanics the first laser was built. The computer, modern telecommunications, CAT
scanners, radio telescopes, transistors and nuclear power plants could not have been developed
without quantum mechanics. The work of Max Planck, the earlier discoveries of radioactivity and
the photoelectric effect were bombshells in the revolution of physics.

In 1913 the Danish physicist, Nils Bohr, produced a basic explanation of the way that light
interacts with atoms. His work showed how atoms produced photons and why the quantum
theory correctly explained the nature of light. Electrons can orbit the nucleus at many different
levels like satellites that orbit the earth at many different altitudes. Electrons can change their
orbits going higher or lower depending on how much energy they contain. An electron can
absorb the energy of an incoming photon and jump to a higher orbit. Such an electron is said to
be "excited." Not just any amount of energy will excite an electron. Each electron orbit is
susceptible to only a very narrow range of incoming energy. The photon must have the right
wavelength or the electron will not absorb it and will not become excited. Even when an
electron does get excited, the duration of excitement is brief. In most cases the electron quickly
jumps back to its original orbit and gives off a photon of precisely the same wavelength as it
originally absorbed. Bohr showed the atom to be a dynamic thing, far more complex than the
Newtonian idea of a miniature solar system in which the electrons obediently circled the
nucleus. The quantum mechanics model of the atom depicts electrons hopping back and forth
from one orbital level to another absorbing incoming photons and emitting photons constantly.

Dr. Richard Feynman said about quantum mechanics, "I think I can safely say that nobody
understands quantum mechanics." Dr. Feynman received the Nobel Prize in theoretical physics
on two separate occasions for his ground breaking work in the field. Despite the fact that
quantum mechanics cannot be understood, it, nevertheless, is used to accurately calculate the
dynamics of these packages of bits of mater and energy to an exceptional degree of accuracy.

RELATIVITY

Einstein revolutionized the physics of very large objects. Relativity added time as a fourth
dimension to Newton's three dimensions. Through general relativity Einstein forged a link
between the physics of gravity and the geometry of space-time. Thus, gravitation was identified
as a fifth dimension. Einstein's Special theory of Relativity showed that photons are the speed
champions of the universe. No particle in nature travels faster than light. Einstein showed that
no physical object, from subatomic particles to the largest objects in the universe can travel
faster than light. More than that, Einstein's theory claimed that mater and energy are
interchangeable. The most famous equation in science is E = mc squared. E is energy, m is the
mass of the mater under consideration, and, c is the speed of light. The amount of energy inside
of any piece of mater is equal to the mass of that mater times the speed of light squared.
Atoms are storehouses of incredibly powerful amounts of energy.

In 1919 a total eclipse of the sun allowed astronomers to check a prediction Einstein had made
on the positions of certain stars. This prediction was based on his general theory of relativity,
which was published in 1915, ten years after he published his special theory of relativity.
Einstein's general theory of relativity stated that a strong gravitational field, such as the
gravitational field of the sun, could bend beams of light. Newton's classical physics assumed that
light traveled in straight lines. The general theory dealt with the new theory of gravitation.
Einstein's prediction proved correct. Light is affected by gravitational forces. Thus, light travels in
curved paths, not straight lines.

In the 1920's Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schroedinger introduced what has come to be called
the uncertainty principal, a logical consequence of Quantum Mechanics that is often
misunderstood. Simply stated, the uncertainty principal says that you can't measure the position
of a subatomic particle and its momentum (motion) at the same time. You can get a good fix on
a particle's location, but, then you won't be able to tell where it is heading, or, you can
determine its momentum, but, you won't know where it is. When most people measure the
distance to something they do it by sight. Most people's measuring tools are vision oriented.
When people use rulers or tape measures this involves bouncing photons off of something and
receiving those photons in their eyes. When we get down to the sizes of subatomic particles,
they are so tiny that photons push them around. If you send in a photon to measure the location
of a subatomic particle, it actually pushes the particle as it bounces off it. When the photon
returns to your receiver, it can tell you where the particle was when it struck it, but it can't tell
you where it is now. That is the essence of the uncertainty principal.

By the middle of the 20th century physicists had answered the question, "What is light?" Light is
a form of electromagnetic energy, a narrow slice of wavelength in the very wide spectrum of
electromagnetic energy. Other wavelengths are used for radio, television and x-rays.