Chapter 291 The fourth question! It’s scary to think about it! Do electrons have free will?
The second quantum theory conference finally reached its most tense moment.
Facing the two big guys Michelson and Lorenz, Bruce used his wild imagination to propose two quantum numbers.
This completely makes up for the shortcomings of Bohr's model, making it a real physical theory.
Quantum theory, just like the theme of the conference, was pushed to its peak by Bruce.
However, Rutherford, who came on third, gave Bruce his first taste of failure.
The Bohr-Lee atomic model is not applicable to radioactivity.
Finally, Bruce explained the reason in the form of conjecture.
And his conjecture was recognized by many big guys present.
You must know that the conjectures of top physicists are completely different from the random guesses of ordinary people.
Bruce's prediction is based on his intuition that is far beyond ordinary people, as well as his profound knowledge of physics, capturing a little inspiration in his mind.
It is a mysterious and indescribable state.
Ordinary people may think that is a pretense.
But the big guys present all know how rare that state is.
They were willing to believe Bruce's guess.
Therefore, this third question is not so much a failure to answer, but rather an answer left in the future.
The result of the confrontation between Bruce and Rutherford will appear one day in the future.
Now, Rutherford is pursuing the victory, and the fourth question follows.
He even declared that this question was very important and Bruce must answer it.
At this moment, the solemn atmosphere on the court reached its peak.
Everyone is looking forward to what problem this will be.
Why it can shake the foundation of Bohr’s model.
At this moment, Rutherford adjusted his mood and said with a smile: "Bruce, my second question is also very simple."
"The Bohr model mentioned that electrons come from a Orbital transition to another orbit will absorb energy or release energy."
"We are all paying attention to the results of the transition, but not the transition itself."
"For example."
"Now we assume that the electron has been excited to the third orbit and is about to transition."
"Then the question arises, why does the electron choose to jump to What about the second orbit, not the first orbit? "
"Or if the electron jumps to the first orbit, why doesn't it jump to the second orbit? "
"This process? It seems to me like electrons have free will.”
"Not only can it choose the time of its jump, but it can also choose the orbit of its jump."
"It can jump to whichever orbit it wants to jump to. There is no physical mechanism that can control its movement."< br>
“This simply violates the law of causality.”
“You can imagine what would happen if this behavior of electrons was brought into the macroscopic world.”
“Hypothesis Someone throws a stone into the air ”
"This corresponds to the electron absorbing energy and being in an excited state."
"Logically speaking, the stone will fall to the ground due to the effect of gravity and return to the stable ground state."
"But now The stone seemed to have free will suddenly."
"It did not fall back to the ground, but hovered in the air."
"It suddenly fell at a time that we could not predict. .”
"Maybe it's a second, maybe it's an hour."
"In short, the result of the stone falling to the ground has no causal relationship with any factors. It is entirely the stone's own decision."
"It doesn't mean that if I hold a stick next to me and hit the stone to make it fall to the ground quickly, it will be useless."
"The stone has been separated from the world, it seems to be independent."
< br>“That’s what I think is weird about electrons.”
"The behavior of its transition violates the law of causality."
"And this is my problem. If this problem is not explained, the Bohr model will never be able to justify itself."
Rutherford's words After that, there was no more banging.
You can hear the needle drop in the conference room.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
The mouth was open, the eyes were dull, and the face was full of shock.
His question is really too scary.
Do electrons have free will?
God, are electrons just round little people?
At this moment, even the big guys in the front row took a breath.
In fact, Rutherford's problem makes people's scalp numb when thinking about it, and it is extremely scary to think about it.
“Oh my god, is this the horror of today’s cutting-edge physics? Why do I feel that I have moved towards philosophy.”
“Professor Rutherford’s question, It’s really scary. The information contained in this question is too huge.”
“Electrons are just like ghosts. Could it be that they are really a kind of life, something beyond human cognition? Life."
"But everything in the world is made of atoms. Why don't we see stones moving and water flowing in the opposite direction?"
"Can't electrons show intelligence in the macroscopic world in which we humans live?"
"Oh God, I can't think about it anymore. The more I think about it, the more I get a headache. My brain is not qualified to think about such high-end physics. Question.”
At this moment, everyone was completely crazy.
They are so imaginative that they even dream up bizarre existences like electronic villains.
Even the big guys in the front row were shocked by Rutherford's question.
His reasoning is really unbelievable.
The big guys absolutely do not believe that electrons have any free will or even intelligence.
That is pure fantasy.
Human beings are such complex creatures that wisdom was born.
The electron is just a small ball with an extremely simple structure. How can there be such a bizarre thing as will.
(Note: Physicists at this time believed that the electron was a solid sphere, but its mass and volume were very small.)
However, the problem arises. If the electron does not have its own will, then this weird thing will happen. How to explain the transition behavior of ?
Planck shook his head. He felt that Rutherford was even crazier than when he proposed quantum theory.
Although quantum theory believes that the world is discontinuous, that is acceptable.
As early as the ancient Greek era, the sages were looking for the origin of the world, something that can no longer be divided.
This actually implies a discontinuous thought.
The smallest units make up our colorful world.
Of course there is discontinuity between the smallest and the smallest.
But causality is another matter.
I feel hungry, so I eat, this is normal cause and effect.
Being hungry is the cause, eating is the effect.
This cause can lead to the corresponding effect.
But in the electronic world described by Rutherford, this is not the case at all.
It may be that I have finished eating, so I am hungry.
Yes, it is so bizarre.
Because I am hungry is the free will of electrons and has nothing to do with anything.
In other words, any behavior can be the cause of the effect that I am hungry.
At this moment, the bosses were also numb.
Thomson said solemnly: "If you think about Bohr's model carefully, it is true that this issue is not mentioned and cannot be explained."
"Rutherford's issue is not trivial. I I think it even involves some kind of cornerstone rule of the real world.”
Wow!
Thomson's words shocked several big guys around him.
They are the pinnacle of today's physics.
I didn’t expect Thomson to use the word rule.
This is not a physical law like Newton's law or the law of gravity.
Everyone understands what Thomson means.
The so-called rules are more like the underlying design of the world. For example, no one knows why the speed of light is this value and can only accept it.
It cannot be described by physicists through rules.
It is the way the world is, the essence.
Now, Rutherford's problem is somewhat similar to this.
Einstein in the crowd was thoughtful after listening to Rutherford's question.
He is very interested in this issue.
And he immediately denied the idea of free will.
There must be some deep-seated mechanism that has not yet been discovered.
At the same time, he was very shocked.
These top beings in today’s physics world should not be underestimated.
They may be lagging behind in the research of modern physics.
That's the kind of pure physical insight that hasn't gone away.
A boss is always a boss, no matter what field you study, you are a boss.
Wilson's expression was a little bitter.
"Hey, they are all from Cavendish, why is the gap so big."
"Compared with Bruce and Rutherford, I feel terrible."< br>
“However, I can brag in the future. I gave Bruce questions and I helped Rutherford assemble the instruments.”
At this moment, the discussion in the venue had reached its peak.
Rutherford's question is really awesome.
Everyone firmly believes that this must be the final and ultimate question.
And now, the man on the podium.
How will he respond?
Everyone’s eyes focused on Li Qiwei again, as if they were going to crush him.
Li Qiwei sighed in his heart at this moment, what should come has finally come.
In real history, after Bohr completed his thesis, he handed it to Rutherford as soon as possible.
He hopes that his tutor can give advice and that with the endorsement of a powerful person, his paper can be published more smoothly.
As a result, Rutherford raised this question after reading the paper.
In his view, there must be problems with Bohr's theory.
Rutherford could not accept this behavior of electrons under any circumstances.
But in the end, he agreed to publish the paper.
Sure enough, for such an important issue, history has not changed much, but the occasion has changed.
At this moment, facing everyone's gaze, Li Qiwei did not answer immediately, but said: "Bohr, what do you think of this question?"
Wow!
There was a commotion in the audience.
Everyone did not expect that Li Qiwei asked Bohr to answer.
And he himself was staring ahead, as if thinking about this problem.
Bohr was also stunned. He did not expect that his mentor would recommend it to him.
He was planning to continue playing soy sauce.
However, Bohr did not dare to be careless about his mentor's words.
Maybe this is a test for yourself.
He took a deep breath and said loudly: "Professor Rutherford, first of all, I do not accept the view that electrons have free will."
"Electrons, like everything in the world, have no free will. The material existence of wisdom.”
“The reason why it shows this phenomenon is that it is the original appearance of the world.”
"It's like why the orbit of electrons is discontinuous, because the world is like that."
"And the same is true for the transition behavior of electrons."
After speaking, Bohr nodded.
However, his answer still caused a sigh of relief.
Obviously, most people present were dissatisfied.
I thought, Bohr, you are too awesome.
Anything you can't explain, just leave it to the world.
A quantum orbit has been used once, and as a result, the electronic transition is used again.
Many people are completely unacceptable.
"Bohr is too cool, and Newton was never as awesome as him."
"Then when we encounter problems that cannot be solved in the future, can we say this, this is how the world works."
"This is a kind of opportunistic behavior."
"Bohr's It means, whether you believe it or not, I believe it anyway.”
The noise of the crowd obviously said it all.
But Bohr was expressionless. The more he studied quantum theory, the more strange he found it.
It's not that he doesn't want to explain a lot of things, it's just that he really can't explain them.
The difference between that mysterious microscopic world and the real macroscopic world is really huge.
Rutherford was not very satisfied with Bohr's answer.
The other party did not really solve the problem.
"Bohr, I don't think your explanation is enough to convince me."
"It's like we don't know why the speed of light is that value, but I can study it and describe it through theory."
"There are even physical laws to explain its behavior."
" For example, wave mechanics, Maxwell's equations, etc. "
"If we compare electrons to light, then the orbit of electrons is the speed of light, although we don't know why it is quantized. "
"But your Bohr model can predict its motion."
"Similarly, there should be a theory that can predict its transition behavior."
"I think this logic is reasonable."
Rutherford's words won over everyone present. people's approval.
Yes, transition is a behavior, and it should be described by laws.
Rather than as Bohr said, it should be like that.
Bohr also thought about Rutherford's analysis, and he had to admit that what the other party said made sense.
Take light as an example and leave yourself unable to refute.
At this moment, Bohr looked at his mentor, Professor Bruce.
Rutherford also stared closely at Li Qiwei on the stage.
Everyone is waiting for his answer.
However, Li Qiwei did something that surprised everyone.
I saw him suddenly turning around and facing away from the audience.
Bohr's speech was then re-projected.
And it was fixed on the page of the emission spectrum of hydrogen atoms.
Li Qiwei stared at the spectrum and fell into deep thought.
At this moment, everyone was confused.
I don’t know what his purpose is.
However, no one asked, for fear of disturbing his thoughts.
Everyone followed his gaze and looked at the spectrum of hydrogen atoms, hoping to discover something remarkable from it.
Rutherford lamented that Bruce was about to use up his potential.
Bruce in this state is simply explosive.
Wilson: Everyone, let the pretense begin!
One minute
Three minutes.
Ten minutes.
After a full fifteen minutes, Li Qiwei moved.
Boom!
(End of this chapter)