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[hunty]

i have missed part of the name

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=tSk51Lp-vHU&feature=PlayList&p=3031D90C1195AEB3&index=0&playnext=1

[hunty]

this is one of my fav parts

http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=vQe0oiaBssg&feature=PlayList&p=3031D90C1195AEB3&index=3

[dougirwin13]

I get a serious kick reading quantum physics theory.

But I suck at maths that advanced so I stick to modelling it on computers and trying to visualise the theory.

Dunno why but I just find state collapse and incredibly fascinating and powerful concept.

[Jarrod]

I read "The dancing wu li masters" when I was about 14, totally blew my mind.  It's kind of a layman's intro to quantum mechanics written I think in the late 70s.   Not totally up to date on theory, but a really good conceptual foundation.    I don't remember all the terminology though, is state collapse when uncertain results become concrete when observed/measured?   Like Schrodinger's cat, both alive and dead inside the box until an outside observer takes note of which way the atom decayed?   If so, yes, that completely blows my mind too.

Quantum mechanics might not have any practical application to our own ends, but I think understanding the duality of an atom's simultaneous wave and particle states is  a nice parallel to our own favorite element, water.

[dougirwin13]

Yeah exactly.

It's the idea that something exists simultaneously in all possible states until it is observed.  At that point all but one of those states ceases leaving a single state.

I get kinda freaked out that this actually seems to be the case at the sub-atomic particle level.  Pretty amazing and what a lot of bleeding-edge technology grows out of.

Personally I feel like any deeper understanding of the world/universe (that's what physics is) generally enhances my understanding of everything practicle I do... Although that's probably far from the truth.