Dangerous Interjection Into Your Day

Go to the H Bar and you should be able to find a metaphor. *hint hint*

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"There's more to life than profits."
<font color=red>"Like what?"</font color=red>
"Like, you know, Slurpees and stuff."
<A HREF="http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/video/707/slurpees.mov" target="_new">South Park</A>

Um, like, in an ice cream truck or something...

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"There's more to life than profits."
<font color=red>"Like what?"</font color=red>
"Like, you know, Slurpees and stuff."
<A HREF="http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/video/707/slurpees.mov" target="_new">South Park</A>

Nah, I'm not mocking you.

What exactly about quantum mechanics are you having a problem with finding a metaphor for? Something specific, or just quantum mechanics in general? I'm not expert, but I do know some about it, and have read some metaphors (the H Bar), but to just start on about everything would probably take too long. Tell me some specifics about what you are having difficulty with and I'll try to help you.

--
"There's more to life than profits."
<font color=red>"Like what?"</font color=red>
"Like, you know, Slurpees and stuff."
<A HREF="http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/video/707/slurpees.mov" target="_new">South Park</A>

I don't think it's really possible to find great metaphors for Quantum. Anyone who wants metaphors shouldn't be studying it anyways....

QM is tough. You don't learn from metaphors, you learn from constant repetition, reading, and studying.

</font color=red><i><font color=red>GOD</font color=red> <font color=blue>BLESS </font color=blue><font color=red>AMERICA

I was also just about to tell him metaphors wouldn't work too well for this. But, I was gonna try and help him out as much as possible.

Oh, and he does play dice, or so it seems, with nuclear decay an all...

--
"There's more to life than profits."
<font color=red>"Like what?"</font color=red>
"Like, you know, Slurpees and stuff."
<A HREF="http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/video/707/slurpees.mov" target="_new">South Park</A>

ACME Anvil hits Willy Coyote on head after Anvil fails to obtain enough inertia to break over the apogee.

Case closed.

Humour is the greatest form of intelligence, and takes the highest IQ levels to obtain it.

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I am a tutor and a TA. I am having trouble explaining QM to kids who are uninterested in it. They dont care to have a 25min explination of what it is and the generalities of it. I need something smaller and more tangible for them.

They aren't retarded or stupid in any respect. But for most 16 and 17yr olds you haven't even had a taste of Calc. let alone anything close to what is needed to describe QM properly.

To say that you dont learn from metaphors is WRONG! Your buddy you so are so quick to use...often used metaphors and analogies to describe in tangible terms what his work was. I know of quite a few of them. The twin paradox is something i use all the time. Also Einstein used 'thought experiments' on a regular basis to verify his logic. Those were nothing more then analogies and metaphors played out and analyzed.

To say the only valid way of learning is through reading....how do you learn to read? If you say the only valid way to learn to study...then how do you learn to study?
Life is full of learning tools. Imitation is the first and often the most powerful to a lot of children who lack the experiance and the language to describe. If i can put something in terms that they can realte to it is easier for them to have questions because they have a model to compare to.

I am trying to help children who are in highschool learn about something that is above them in mathmatics but is something they should know about. Not in depthly but just to have a taste of it.

I know it may not be important to you, but i take great pride in exciting kids about physics and the great puzzles of our time. Its true that they will most likely not solve them. But if they are excited about it, then who knows what will come of it.

You shouldn't only study something you can easily understand. Thats a redicuous stance. How would hard problems ever get solved?

I guess because something is tough, kids shouldn't try to learn it and they should def. not be curious about it. How dare kids have a yerning for information.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by pickxx on 08/05/04 10:18 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

What you might want to do is pick up a book called "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene. Although that book is mostly about string theory, it does have a chapter or two on quantum mechanics and does explain the weirdness of it using the H Bar "metaphor."

--
"There's more to life than profits."
<font color=red>"Like what?"</font color=red>
"Like, you know, Slurpees and stuff."
<A HREF="http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/video/707/slurpees.mov" target="_new">South Park</A>

This is my personal opinion only, but trying to explain quantum mechanics to 16 year olds who are uninterested is just a waste of time. They don't know calc, statistics, let alone classical mechanics so there is really nothing you can do for them.

BTW, the twin paradox is for relativity, not quantum mechanics.

If you want to excite them, stay away from explaining quantum. Relativity is probably a really good one though.

If you REALLY want to, I might brush over the correlation between matter and energy, quantum tunneling, the history of the theory, and possibly the photoelectric effect. If they're still interested then I would back up and start teaching them the basics: calc, mechanics, e/m, thermo, statistics, etc....

I really don't understand why you are doing this. You're skipping too many steps. Quantum is not intuitive and if some nutjob started explaining it to me at 16 I probably would have never gotten a degree in physics.

</font color=red><i><font color=red>GOD</font color=red> <font color=blue>BLESS </font color=blue><font color=red>AMERICA

yea i was thinking this also. hes freaking smart man, incredible

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</font color=red><i><font color=red>GOD</font color=red> <font color=blue>BLESS </font color=blue><font color=red>AMERICA

See that is just the thing....i am not trying to teach them QM. In fact i dont think i know it well enough to teach it. But if i am asked about it by someone i would rather have a short analogy to explain it generally, then having to spend 25min.

I am not the teacher, so i do not control lesson plans. I merely help with some labs, and tutor some kids afer school. (btw, not all the kids i tutor are behind, i help the advanced kids get some extra exerpiance with harder principals then the normal class)

I understand i am reaching into the dark for this. I was hoping someone ran into some clever explination of QM or some clever trick. If finding an explination was easy i wouldn't have to ask for it, i would already know it.

Its hard to justify spending 30min discussing QM when i have an hour a day with them and there are other things, most of which they will be tested on, that they have to learn.

Thanx though

first thing, i AM on a first name basis with Albert. We go way back, he is my homie.

I know the twin paradox is relitivity, i was just saying that as an example of Mr Einstien explaining something that isn't all that intuitive with an analogy to help people learn about his work.

I am not trying to TEACH them QM. But i have been asked about it and the text book that they use actually mentions it a couple times but without explination. Some of the kids who are quite smart are just curious what this theory is because they run into it every now and then. I would prefer to have some kind of an answer as opposed to just saying to them they wouldn't understand it and then move on.

Its true, most kids would be scared off with the complex nature of QM. But when i was 15/16 and in my Honors Physics class i got into it a little. But what really got me passionate about it was i learned about QM, String theory, and other things that are mathmatically way above me.

I dont expect anyone to be like me, but i also dont think i should deny a kid atleast the chance to have his question answered because i am not smart enough to come up with a clever analogy.

To me, it seemed like QM is another way to try to show how unpredictability exists, and a linear universe and physics do not exist, therefore the existence of randomness is there and clearly destroys the doctrines of determinism and fatalism. At least, that's the most basic I can think of, myself, since this is what I feel helped overcome such thoughts in the past.

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I can't think of anything simpler than schrodinger's[sp?] cat, but I think someone mentioned that above anyways... Plus you've gotta be cautious about telling them a story about someone with a cat in a box which is both alive and dead. They'd probably be imagining a cat zombie.. .. and might even try to re-create the experiment ...

If you do get asked, I suggest telling them to solve the logic puzzle posted by SilverPig around here somewhere, and then running away while their heads implode.

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