The uncertain location of electrons - George Zaidan and Charles Morton

The tiny atoms that make up our world are made up of even tinier protons, neutrons and electrons. Though the number of protons determines an atom's identity, it's the electrons -- specifically, their exact location outside the nucleus -- that particularly perplex scientists. George Zaidan and Charles Morton show how to make an educated guess of where those itty-bitty freewheeling electrons might be.

 Lesson by George Zaidan and Charles Morton, animation by Karrot Animation.

 

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle Experiment

Heisenberg's uncertainty principle tells us that it is impossible to simultaneously measure the position and momentum of a particle with infinite precision. In our everyday lives we virtually never come up against this limit, hence why it seems peculiar. In this experiment a laser is shone through a narrow slit onto a screen. As the slit is made narrower, the spot on the screen also becomes narrower. But at a certain point, the spot starts becoming wider. This is because the photons of light have been so localised at the slit that their horizontal momentum must become less well defined in order to satisfy Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.

Other Veritasium videos

IDTIMWYTIM: Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle might not mean what you think it means: Hank clears things up for us in this edition of IDTIMWYTIM, by distinguishing between the Uncertainty Principle and the Observer Effect, which are often conflated.

Other Sci-Show videos

 

MIT 8.01 Classical Mechanics Lecture 34

MIT Physics Course

Professor Walter Lewin

8.01 Physics  I: Classical Mechanics, Fall 1999

The Wonderful Quantum World - Breakdown of Classical Mechanics

See other videos in this series.

Uncertainty - Sixty Symbols

Why we can never know the position of a proton for sure?

Other Sixty Symbols videos

What is the Uncertainty Principle?

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle - in a nutshell!

Other Minute Physics videos