The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle is relatively simple to state and has a simple idea. In traditional Newtonian physics, also called Classical Physics, it was believed that if we know the starting position and the moment (mass and velocity) of all particles in a system, we would be able to calculate their interactions and predict how it will behave. This seems correct, if we can accurately describe the interactions between these particles, but it starts from a very strong assumption: that we actually know the position and momentum of all particles.
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According to the uncertainty principle, the position or moment (and therefore speed) of a particle cannot be known with absolute precision. This is because to measure any of these values we end up changing them, and this is not a matter of measurement, but of quantum physics and the nature of particles. The uncertainty principle is equated through the formula:
where Δx is the position uncertainty and Δp is the uncertainty about the moment of the particle
To better understand, when we need to know the position of a particle according to classical mechanics, we need 2 variables, the speed of that object and the time spent from one point to another. Only in this way can we define its position. Now, in the case of subatomic particles, we cannot be sure of any of the 2 pieces of information, because in this scale the material is random and uncertain! In other words, we know that to define a state of the paticula we need two different pieces of information to define another one. The following video will bring a clearer idea, see! (ACTIVATE THE SUBTITLES !!!)
In short! To make this concept clear, imagine that you are holding the end of a very long rope and producing a wave by shaking it up and down rhythmically. If someone asks 'where exactly is the wave?' you will think that person is crazy: the wave is not precisely anywhere. It is distributed for about 45m or more. But if that person asks what the wavelength is, you could give a reasonable answer: something around 7 meters. Of course, you can sketch intermediate cases in which the wave is reasonably well located and the length of the wave is reasonably well defined, but there is an inevitable dilemma here: the more precise the position of that wave is, the less precise the wavelength is and vice versa. versa. This applies and clears to any wave phenomenon and, therefore, particularly the wave function in quantum mechanics. Now the wavelength of Ψ is related to the moment of the particle by that de Broglie formula.
where (p) linear moment , Δp is the uncertainty about the moment of the particle