Is "Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle " simply a lack of understanding of all phenomena that act on particles?

Question

If we understood and took account of everything in the universe that would affect particles (including everything we don't understand or havn't even discovered yet) and were able to measure and implement these factors into every experiment that would be affected by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, would these uncertainties cease to exist?

I know there isn't a definite answer, but any opinions from people who know about physics would be greatly apprectated.

Answer 1

Uncertainity principle states that
' it is impossible to measure both position and velocity simultaneously of a microscopic particle with great accuracy or certainity'

and it gives that [ D.V ]* [D.P] < or = h/4 pi

but they can nevere be greater than h/4pi

Answer 2

The uncertainty principle is stated in popular culture in many ways, for example by stating that it is impossible to know both where an electron is and where it is going at the same time. This is roughly correct, although it fails to mention an important part of the Heisenberg principle, which is the quantitative bounds on the uncertainties.

The uncertainty principle is frequently, but incorrectly, confused with the "observer effect", wherein the observation of an event changes the event. The observer effect is an important effect in many fields, from electronics to psychology and social science.

In quantum physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle or the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle — the latter name given to it by Niels Bohr — states that one cannot measure values (with arbitrary precision) of certain conjugate quantities, which are pairs of observables of a single elementary particle. The most familiar of these pairs is the position and momentum.

The basis of the Uncertainty Principle is that one compares the frequency of a wave with the beats of a standard clock. In essence, this is the same as to allow the two frequencies to interfere with each other. How would one know if the two frequencies are or are not exactly, precisely the same, if one did not have an infinite amount of time to measure this and be certain?

Answer 3

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle (UP) is a fundamental property of matter/energy, which was discovered by observation of Atomic scale particles. It's important to understand, and respect, that it is a direct observation of nature. The UP is exactly what differentiates Classical Mechanics from Quantum Mechanics.

What the UP says in a nutshell is,

Simultaneous measurements of "Conjugate Variables" cannot be made with arbitrarily small precision. Rather, the product of the uncertainty of two simultaneous measurements must be greater than or equal to a constant (the constant of course involves Planck's constant).

What's important to understand in the above definition is the usage of "Conjugate Variables." Conjugate Variables is a concept that comes from Classical Mechanics, specifically, Hamiltonian Mechanics. However, in Classical Hamiltonian Mechanics, NO limit is placed on the precision of simultaneous measurements of Conjugate Variables.

Position and Momentum are Conjugate variables.

Hence, it's not ignorance of other factors (hidden variables some might call them, and a whole lot more can be said on this subject) that precludes one from making simultaneous measurements.

Answer 4

There is in fact a definite answer to your question, it isn't just a matter of opinion. A particle does not have a clearly defined position until the act of measurement forces a definitive position which in turn destroys our knowledge of its momentum.

The easiest way to understand this is to study the famous double slit experiment. When you understand that experiment in detail you will understand what Heisenberg was saying.

Answer 5

Nope, heisenberg's uncertainity principle has got nothing to do with our lack of total understanding of the universe. it just states that for very small objects(comparable to size of electrons), both position and velocity cannot be measured at the same time. for example, assume you are using a tennis ball to measure the velocity and position of another tennis ball.to measure the position, you throw the ball in your hand at the tennis ball with a known velocity and multiplying half the time taken to return with velocity will give you the distance of the ball from u.but, as the ball u throw hits the static ball, some kinetic energy is imparted to the static ball, thus u cant find its velocity. hence theres always an uncertainint. Thus, you cant find both position and velocity with 100% accuracy.

Answer 6

No.
What the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle identifies is that the actual act of observing/measuring something has an effect on it. In order for us to measure the speed of an elemental particle, we affect it's position...and to measure it's position, we affect it's speed. What that means is that we can't possibly know both the position and the speed because of the effects of our measurements. Despite the "uncertainty" name, it really means that we better understand how particles work, and we understand that our observations and measurements affect particles.

Answer 7

The process is well understood. See Gamow's explanation in the link. The uncertainty stems from the duality of light (photons)as waves and particles. Of course additional understanding of the Universe may lead to clearer explanations of many phenomena as you suggest.

Answer 8

An imperfect analogy of Heisenberg:

If one saw a photograph of a plane in flight. Presumably, we can measure many phyical things about that plane such as its dimensions. What we can not determine is its place in the universe, where it came from, where it's going, or how fast or in which direction.

Conversely, if a plane flew by, we could set up tools to measure its speed, altitude, direction....but, as it is moving, measuring its size would be impossible.

Answer 9

Perhaps, there is another realm of physics which has not yet been discovered, and which could provide definite answers to your question.
Newton could never have dreamed of nuclear physics.
Most people never think about the metaphysical.
And the as yet undiscovered realm is ?????

Answer 10

Uncertainity is due to lack of understanding