Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

PHY-118 · Semester I · Physics

Sandboxintermediate12 minAvailable

Uncertainty principleΔx · Δp ≥ ħ/2

How to play

Objective

Pin down the position of a wave packet and watch its momentum blur: the product of the two uncertainties can never fall below Planck's constant divided by two.

The idea

A particle's wave has a trade-off: squeeze its position into a tiny spot and its momentum becomes fuzzy; let the position spread out and the momentum sharpens.

Try this

1Squeeze the position and watch the momentum spread.
2Widen the position and watch momentum sharpen.
3Press the measure button and see one exact position collapse the wave.
4Watch the product of the uncertainties against the quantum limit.

Watch for

Delta x times Delta p never drops below h-bar / 2.
Position and momentum are two views of the same wave.
Measuring position hard destroys momentum certainty.
Uncertainty is built into nature, not a limitation of our tools.