That’s because you’re thinking of it like a particle moving a distance, but matter at that scale actually behaves more like a standing wave that only has discrete solutions.
Or at least that’s how I think about electrons and Schrodinger’s equation. I dunno, I only teach about stuff that’s as small as an electron, but it’s a useful tool for thinking about quantum numbers, so I assume it applies to smaller matter, too.
Because to the limits of our ability to observe physics hits a point at which it becomes more discrete than continuous. Which is really convenient mathematically and really inconvenient philosophically. Personally though, I’m an engineer, I was taught not to worry about anything that makes the math a bit easier or about implications
My Math based mind never understood the planck length. If you’ve moved a planck, then you’ve moved 2 half plancks.
That’s because you’re thinking of it like a particle moving a distance, but matter at that scale actually behaves more like a standing wave that only has discrete solutions.
Or at least that’s how I think about electrons and Schrodinger’s equation. I dunno, I only teach about stuff that’s as small as an electron, but it’s a useful tool for thinking about quantum numbers, so I assume it applies to smaller matter, too.
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A half-Planck is from your knees so it’s more like 2/3 of a full Planck.
Because to the limits of our ability to observe physics hits a point at which it becomes more discrete than continuous. Which is really convenient mathematically and really inconvenient philosophically. Personally though, I’m an engineer, I was taught not to worry about anything that makes the math a bit easier or about implications