Newbie at Quantom Physics here

[Smartoad]

I am Soph. year of high school but since 7th grade I have loved Molecules and atoms and pretty much everything small. Its fascinates me and when i read about it I get warped inside and find myself not blinking for minutes straight. But my problem is that no matter what forum I go to, everything is way advanced, things I have never heard of before, and I read about it and get the general ideas, but its hard to comprehend Post grad studies. If this forum has a beginner or Basics section then that would be great, or if you know of beginner physics websites then links would be absolutely awesome. I have always had a good understanding of physics without knowing the terms, so slightly higher than Soph. year stuff would be cool. Also the movie What The BLEEP Do We Know was pretty cool for me, so if you have seen that then you know what kind of stuff amazes me :)

 

[thrill3rnit3]

How much math do you know?

 

[candyred312]

Haha I'm in the same situation as Smarttoad except that I never tried any forums. Just stuck to independent thought. I've just started off on some books. Any good recommendations? What would be a good guide for the necessary math too?? I'm pretty good with calculus but that's about all school's given me.

 

[eri]

I've got bad news for you guys - 'What the Bleep Do We Know' is a load of crap. There's no real science there at all. It was directed by a woman who claims to be getting divine inspiration about quantum mechanics from a caveman. Sure, it might have sounded cool, and even convincing if you didn't realize that, but there's no science there.

Quantum mechanics is pretty cool. And there are some good books out there for the lay person that do a pretty good job convincing you it's cool (while not actually lying about it) but they're not really teaching you quantum mechanics. For that, you need a physics major. And a lot of math.

 

[candyred312]

Lol I've never even heard of that book. Can't you at least learn the math on your own?

 

[zhermes]

But my problem is that no matter what forum I go to, everything is way advanced, things I have never heard of before, and I read about it and get the general ideas, but its hard to comprehend Post grad studies ... Also the movie What The BLEEP Do We Know was pretty cool for me, so if you have seen that then you know what kind of stuff amazes me :)

That movie is possible the worst thing that has ever happened; which is outrageously unfortunate, because the true science is just as wild and cool. But as eri said, virtually nothing in that movie can be trusted. It's propaganda. Anyway...

Physics can't be understood without the math (i.e. the details). Once you leave classical physics, the human mind no longer has the tools to understand---what seems to be the truth---in purely conceptual terms. One might be able to get an idea about quantum mechanics, for instance, conceptually. But the only way to really get it, and to learn from it, and try to deduce new science out of it---is with mathematics.

If you are passionate about physics, you've just got to start from the top. Try picking up a copy of 'the Feynman lectures.' They are university level, but if you're good, and you give it time and effort, you'll be able to get through it; try to get your math/science teachers to help you. If you get a good start on physics now, you can be a complete baller at it in college.

 

[Phyisab****]

Actually learning quantum physics will not be nearly as fun or candy coated as what you have been exposed to. You need to start by getting a strong background in calculus and calculus based intro level physics. You then need to learn linear algebra, ordinary and partial differential equations. Then you will be able to start working through an introduction to quantum mechanics.

 

[diazona]

I've got bad news for you guys - 'What the Bleep Do We Know' is a load of crap. There's no real science there at all. It was directed by a woman who claims to be getting divine inspiration about quantum mechanics from a caveman. Sure, it might have sounded cool, and even convincing if you didn't realize that, but there's no science there.

Heh, good to know I had the right suspicion about that one.

I'd echo what other people are saying about math. For quantum mechanics especially, even the concepts are based on math that's beyond what you typically encounter in high school, so there's very little that you would be able to understand without having studied those mathematical concepts. As Phyisab**** said, you'll need to learn about linear algebra (the math of vectors and matrices) and differential equations, and I'd add complex numbers to that list.

But anyway, just as a teaser of sorts: in classical (nonquantum) mechanics, the physical state of a particle is represented by the particle's position and momentum. In quantum mechanics, the state of a particle is something more complicated, called a "quantum state" because we really don't have a better word for it There are mathematical procedures for extracting information about the position, momentum, energy, etc. of a particle from the quantum state that represents that particle. When you do this, what you get is not a particular value, but a probability distribution - so, for position for example, you will get a mathematical function (called the wavefunction) that gives the probability that the particle can be found at each point in space, rather than a statement that "the particle is at ..." as you would in classical mechanics.

 

[Smartoad]

well then, the very thing that inspired me to learn about sciences and physics has been crushed into a fine powder and blown away right before my eyes. though I do know that a lot of the movie was cool special effects, there is some truth in there. Like how nothing ever technically touches anything else. Also, I guess if I have to take super advanced amth then I can't be a scientist of any sort because I am having a horrid time with algebra two, and calculus is above Alg2. I guess ill just have to stick to independent studies on things that i can comprehend without using massively advanced math. I'm sure that it will be fun AND candy coated as long is I am in bliss with the subject. let's trry not and demolish my dreams anymore.

 

[llello]

Just an fyi, in high school I absolutely hated math. Nothing really "clicked" until I hit calculus. At that point, the reasons for all previous work became obvious. Maybe check out some lectures on youtube before deciding you can't put up with the math.