Is Quantum theory real or just a theory?

Question

I keep hearing that how you see things changes with Quantum theory what da hell does that mean and is it real? If it's real doesn't that mean how you see things in like is what you get?

I meant to say "how you see things in LIFE" not LIKE.

Answer 1

The "Newtonian" laws which govern things on the macroscopic world work fine for big things, but when you get really small or really fast, these laws cease to work at explaining how things happen. Quantum laws govern the way things happen on the microscopic level and are based on probability.

Einstein didn't like that very much, and tried to reconcile the two sets of rules. He died with the unfinished formulas on his desk. Today, there is a push by physicists to resolve these two sets of rules. String theory has been the major contender, until recently. Now Membrane theory is the new champion. If Membrane, or M theory proves to be correct, it could explain the weakness of gravity, the cause of the big bang, the existence of multiple universes.

Answer 2

Well, what do you mean by "theory," and what do you mean by "real"? Do you believe that a theory can be dismissed because it is not real?

Classically, a theory is an explanation of a phenomenon that is based on many non-contradicting observations. We bolster a theory by making more observations and seeing that all are mutually non-contradicting, but we cannot possibly make all possible observations.

Because of the possibility that a contradicting observation could be made, a theory can never "advance" to becoming a fact. But that does not mean that the theory is to be dismissed, because it does attempt to describe the why of some observations, and we can use the theory to produce useful results. In the case of Quantum Theory, it has produced the semiconductor revolution.

Answer 3

It is the "best" explanation we have so far for what we have found at the sub-atomic level. Classical Newtonian physics and even Einstein's theory of relativity failed to explain certain phenomena observed at the sub-atomic level. That is the reason that Quantum theory came about.
However, the discrepancies between Quantum theory and General Relativity seem to point at the fact that there is an underlying explanation which we are, yet, unable to grasp. Most scientists refer to it as the "Unified Theory".

Answer 4

Physics doesn't do "real". That's philosophy. "Theory" is the highest level of credibility attainable by any scientific explanation. To call something "just" a theory is like calling the tip of a drill bit designed to drill granite "just a diamond". Though technically true, saying it other than in jest would betray ignorance of diamond's unsurpassed hardness.


"Facts", which common folk, generally assume to be something theories aspire to become after being "proved", are actually a categorically different kind of proposition altogether. Facts refer to direct observations such as "That ostrich has two legs" (fact), which theories are attempts to generalized a class of observations such as "Birds evolved from two-legged dinosaurs" (theory).

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Answer 5

It is a theory due to the Heizenberg Uncertainty principle.