Can two things occupy the same space?Oh and what does Physics and Quantum mechanics have to say about this?

Question

Nothing just what you read,..... Oh yeah I keep thinking about math on this one, and I get the feeling that they will cancel eachother out, you know dissapear,(god this sounds silly), I dont know I just have an imagination that constantly squeezes Logic and Nonsense into the samw void.

Answer 1

Two things can NOT occupy the same place. You can't park your car in the same place that another car is in. Right?

Answer 2

I'll be honest and give you an example. Think about how much energy it takes to create say one proton. Now that proton contains three things -- quarks. But do those three quarks occupy the same space? Why not?

The heisenberg uncertainty principle says

Change in momentum X change in Distance >= hbar/2

...what that means is that if you knew that two things were in the same space with 100% certainty, then it's momentum would be infinitely uncertain -- or

Change in Energy X change in Time >= hbar/2

which would say if the particles were known at the same time with definite certainty then the energy would be infinitely uncertain.

Have you thought about how much energy it takes to create a proton yet? This self-energy is mathematically infinite. So if you double the number of protons in the same space, then you'd double infinity.

Quantum mechanically there is a possibly (or I should say, "we allow for the possibility) that two particles may be located in the same space -- per their wavefunction interactions. So if you allow objects to be described by their wavefunction-representation, then clearly you've allowed for two particles to be in the same space. (Then again, Pauli's exclusion principle would require that those two --fermions-- particles would have to have different spins -- but is exclusion a law? No. It's just a principle -- a guide.)

So. Yes. If you buy quantum mechanics faithfully as you may believe in God, then you will have to say that there is a possibility that two particles can be in the same space -- AT THE SAME TIME. Why not?

:)

Answer 3

To put a rock into a bucket, water must be displaced. Push one side of a baloon, and the other stretches. Two things cannot occupy the same space, at the same time. The time clause leaves a lot up in the air, though, because we haven't quite perfected the physics of time itself. And hey, the world could be a donnie darko kind of place after all...