Father Inire's Mirrors and Wolfe Physics

Michael Buice · 19 Aug 2003, 19:18 · from urth-v0308.mbox · original

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From: Michael Buice <mabuice at uchicago.edu>
Subject: Re: (urth) Father Inire's Mirrors and Wolfe Physics
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 14:18:58 -0500
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On Tuesday, August 19, 2003, at 02:04  PM, Tony Martinez wrote:

> FWIW, I thought the explanation reminiscent of the EPR
> (Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen) paradox, which is, as you say, an aspect of
> QM (and a very interesting one, linked to the idea of FTL
> communication); don't know how it connects to tunneling, though.

It doesn't connect.  EPR has to do with Entanglement, which is unique=20
to the mathematical structure of QM.  Tunneling is another aspect of=20
wave mechanics which happens to carry over to the QM world.  If you=20
shine light through a prism such that total internal reflection=20
prevents the light from escaping the other side of the prism, you can=20
still "pull it out", if you will, by holding another prism close to the=20
first.  The light wave will propagate "over" the gap between prisms and=20
continue propagation in the nearby prism, never propagating in the=20
space between.  Since QM forces wave-like behavior on matter, it must=20
be able to do this as well.  That's what "Quantum" Tunneling is.

Michael

--=20

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