Re: Alice in Quantumland

Alice in Quantumland
an allegory of Quantum Physics

(Below is a sample from the publisher's blurb)

This story is physics told through a fantasy allegory.
Alice falls through the screen of her television set and finds herself
in Quantumland. This is a place where she encounters unusual characters
who demonstrate to her the basics of quantum physics.
She meets electrons, whose positions must be uncertain unless they are
moving rapidly
She visits the Heisenberg Bank and sees particles get short term energy loans
She talks to the Uncertain Accountant who cannot make his books balance
because of energy fluctuations.
She meets the Quantum and Classical Mechanics at the Mechanic's
Institute and sees demonstrations of interference in their Gedanken room.
At the Fermi Bose Academy she is told how the Pauli Principle deals
with hundreds of identical electron students.
From the Mendeleev Pier she explores the energy levels within an atom.
She visits Castle Rutherford, the home of the nuclear Family.
The three Quark Brothers explain the composition of strongly
interacting particles.
In all of this there is only one equation.

http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/allegory/Alice_book.htm



The Use of Allegory
Modern physics has given rise to some strange and marvelous concepts.
They are not only strange, they are difficult to believe.
We cannot understand them, in that we cannot make them fit
with our previous beliefs.
In that sense no one understands quantum mechanics.
We are forced to take on board new and initially unbelievable facts.

http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/allegory/allegory.htm



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