Consciousness of the Universe (Part 1)... Vinit Vartak ©
Many scientists have made invaluable contributions to understand the structure of the universe. It starts right from Isaac Newton. In the early 19th century, Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. In the same year, a scientist who gave a different direction to understand the structure of the universe was born. His name was Albert Einstein. At the age of just 26, in 1905, Einstein presented the 'photoelectric effect' theory to the whole world and changed the way we thought about light. Until Einstein presented his discovery to the world, we believed that light is a wave. Light travels through the infinite void of the universe in the form of a wave. Like waves on the surface of water that come to the shore, or ripples spread to the shore like when a stone is thrown. Similarly, light travels through the void of the universe. The equation of light is wave was proved through many experiments.
But Einstein proved by the photoelectric effect that light is also a particle. Photoelectric effect is possible only if light is in the form of particles. We call these particles 'photons'. After Einstein's research, it was proved that light is both a wave and a particle. In 1921, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for this discovery. The universe that we see or the universe that we experience is all based on the reality & certainty. Newton said that some invisible forces act on every element of the universe. If we understand it, we can make an opinion about something in the universe with certainty. One can predict what the object will be like in the past, present or future.
Now to understand this more easily, let us consider the recent football matches. In a match, the players of that team move forward or backward by predicting when, how and where the ball will be passed or hit by the player. They can make this prediction because we are part of a finite universe. Where we estimate the gravitational force acting, direction, wind. So we can predict what will happen next. Each star, planet, or galaxy in the universe travels in a particular path because of the forces acting on them. That is why we can determine what may happen next. This is called 'classical physics'. It is very easy to understand because we experience every day.
Einstein's discovery was further researched by many researchers. As science has progressed, we have reached down to the smallest detail of something, i.e. the atom. It was proved that atoms are at the root of everything in the world. A few years later we were able to go inside the atom. Here we discovered what is called a sub-atomic particle. On the one hand, classical physics was exploring the great mysteries of the world. There started the research to find the smallest things in the universe. A new branch was born here which was later called 'Quantum Mechanics'.
Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.
But when this branch came, there was a big problem. Where as classical physics was fixing things by sitting in some rules. There, quantum mechanics was eroding all known information into a deep vortex of uncertainty. Where there is nothing fixed, eternal. How to guess there? Because of this, mathematics and physics as we know them were collapsing there. To understand this a little more, let's dive into quantum mechanics. It is uncertain what exactly is happening there.
Let's take a disc. Now we will give black color on one side of it and white color on other side. This disc is what we think of as the smallest part of something, a particle, such as a photon or an electron. From the point of view of classical physics, we can assert that either the disk is black or the disk is white. Because as written above certainty means classical physics. But the point is that if you consider the laws of quantum mechanics, they say that the disc is neither black nor white. She is in a super position. What this means is that the disk can be of either color. She is constantly rotating, i.e. moving around herself. How long she remain in this position until someone looking at her or measuring her. So it can be in any form. This is also called wave form.
In terms of quantum mechanics, photons and electrons are in a superposition state. Electrons revolve around themselves clockwise or counterclockwise. Or photons are moving from left to right or from right to left. This means that we cannot tell exactly what state they are in. We can only tell when we see them.
Let's go back to the disk example. I will know whether the disk is black or white only when I look at it (observe). Whenever I do this, the disc will manifest itself in front of me in white or black. Now it's all a mess. You might be confused after reading. What exactly do you want to say?
In simpler terms, quantum mechanics says that you cannot say anything with certainty at the particle level unless you observe it or measure it. When you look at that thing, the particle reveals itself to you. This means that when I look at it, I might see it as black, but at the same time, if you look at it, you might see it as white. This means that the person who sees (observes) these things determines the appearance of what he sees. (Here form means black side or white side for understanding). Quantum mechanics states that there is no fixed entity or form in this universe. The concept of universe is based on probability. One who sees the universe can see it's probable form.
To reduce the confusion further, let us take the example of a dream. When you have any dream be it good or bad or whatever. The people, events, situations, nature or the whole thing in that dream is in your imagination. In a dream, imagine your mother, father, friend, sun, moon, butterfly, bird, any animate or inanimate thing you know is your own creation. You see it as you observe it in a dream, we say. Because it is limited to you. It means the dream world can be real for you. But no one else has anything to do with it. Now it must have been realized that the overall concept of the universe is based on what I or we observe. It's not necessarily true...
To be Continue...
In the next part, what happens in the magical city of quantum mechanics and how a brilliant scientist like Einstein got confused and what exactly the discoveries made now have achieved.
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