Culture

Author: Chad Orzel
Publisher: Oneworld
(4/5)

Particle-wave duality is not the doctrine that photons and elections (etc.) are simultaneously waves and particles. Neither are they really particles with wave-like properties or really waves with particle-like properties. Rather, they are neither waves nor particles; they are quantum particles (yes, it’s unfortunate that they’ve kept the word ‘particle’ in the name of this third category), which manifest some wave-like and some particle-like properties. 
   The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is not the doctrine that the act of measuring some variable in a system changes the system. Neither is it the doctrine that there is practical problem with measuring both the (say) position and velocity of a quantum particle precisely. Rather, it is a statement to the effect that these quantities just don’t exist in an absolute sense. 
   Okay, I’ll stop. How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog is a great introduction to (obviously) quantum physics. It is, however, not the most helpful dog-training manual. But never mind that. Just as I have done (but better), Orzel discusses the key concepts in quantum physics, helpfully pointing out the major pitfalls along the way. By pointing out what particle-wave duality (and Heisenberg Uncertainty and the Copenhagen Interpretation and Schrödinger’s Cat and the Many Worlds Interpretation and Quantum Entanglement, etc.) aren’t, the reader gets a much better, more accurate picture of this idea. None of this is to say, of course, that our bafflement over quantum physics is all a function of common misconceptions of it. Quantum physics is as odd, if not odder, than it seems to be. However, it’s not spooky magic, as Orzel helpfully explains in the final chapter. As you might know, ‘quantum physics’ has recently been invoked a lot to justify kooky claims about healing at a distance and the production of free energy and asking the Universe for stuff, and now I know exactly why these attempts are so much snake oil. Thanks, Chad.
   How to Teach Your Dog Quantum Physics is an extremely well written, purposefully light-hearted, and informative (though very basic) introduction to quantum physics. It provides enough information, I think, to enable the reader to spot popular nonsense dressed up in quantum physical terms. That’s a useful skill these days.