9 Things To Say About Quantum Physics That Will Make You Sound Clever At Parties

Joking. That's totally a joke. You don't have to talk in pure maths to talk about quantum physics.

However, that equation does represent what could be a good starting point for a burgeoning quantum physicist.

Those squiggles and lines (or beautiful mathematics for those of you that like numbers) represent something called Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, something you've probably heard of before.

The Uncertainty Principle basically states that there are various pairs of properties that a particle can have, that cannot be simultaneously observed - position and momentum are most commonly used.

So, if you are able to accurately observe the speed at which a particle is moving, you will be unable to accurately pin down its position and vice versa.

This uncertainty arises from one of the weird tenets of quantum mechanics which states that particles can behave as both particles and waves at the same time. It doesn't make any sense to talk about the precise position of a wave, in the same way that it is nonsensical to talk about the wavelength of a "pulse" or particle. So, measuring one of these properties essentially forces you to treat your subject as either a wave or a particle, thus making it harder to find the property that occurs when it is in its other "state".

The equation reveals the balancing act that the Uncertainty Principle has to perform. If you increase the certainty with which you can measure x (the position) then you must decrease the certainty of p (momentum) in order to balance the inequality.

Basically, it's all wibbly-wobbly-time-wimey stuff where everything's made up and the points don't matter. Welcome to Quantum Mechanics.