It's more years than I care to count since I studied (or taught) quantum
mechanics, so I need a bit of help with a discussion I am having ... I
had thought that the standard popular science type discussion of
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, where it is claimed that there is a
ridiculously small but non-zero probability that an elephant could
quantum-tunnel through a wall, was falacious because the uncertainty
principle doesn't apply to a macroscopic, incoherent assembly of
particles like an elephant. Am I wrong?
Cheers
Margaret
--
Dr. Margaret Mazzolini
Astronomy Course Coordinator
Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing
BSEE, Mail Box 31,
Swinburne University of Technology,
PO Box 218 Hawthorn VIC 3122
Australia
email: mmazzolini@swin.edu.au
phone: (+61) 3 9214 8084
fax: (+61) 3 9819 0856