RE: Explaining QM to the layperson

["Brian J. Oliver" <oliver@alpha.sunyniagara.cc.ny.us>]

On Thursday, May 8 PParker wrote:
<There was a picture published in Science News, Scientific American, and
<probably others (including the original journal!) within the last year
<or so, showing a single confined atom being simultaneously detected in
<two physically distinct and separated places. If I recall correctly,
<it was touted at the time as a clear illustration of real =
superposition.
<   With luck, someone may produce a reference! (I forgot.)

The reference can be is=20

C. Monroe, D.M. Meekhof, B.E. King, D.J. Wineland, "A Schr=F6dinger cat =
superposition state of an atom," Science 272, 1131 (1996).

and can be found on the web at

http://www.bldrdoc.gov/timefreq/ion/qucomp/cat.htm

Oddly enough, I found this by first exploring a website which contains =
the above link mentioned by PParker in another phys-l posting also on =
May 8

> There is a new Web site being developed to address this question. =
(Teaching QM to the layperson) It is
> still under construction but it has some interesting information =
already
> online.  The address is:
>
> http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/
>
> Presumably their attitude is targeted at a specific audience. I hope =
that
> audience appreciates so-called "insult" humor. I certainly won't =
recommend
> it to my students.

My impression is that the authors of this page and those of the above =
reference (possibly one and the same) certainly did not intend there =
effort to be humorous and certainly not insulting to anyone, but rather =
to assist in the solution to the problem which originated this thread, =
"How do teach the layperson about QM?"

In my opinion the Physics 2000 effort is a very useful endeavour and =
will undoubtedly help in making some of the difficult concepts of QM =
accessible to the layperson.  My only problem with it is that I havn't =
been able to get any of the Java applets to work on my machine.

Also, it has come to my attention that my recent postings has contained =
encoded binaries. I am unaware that I am attaching any files to my =
posts.  Can anyone confirm this for me?

*************************************************************************=
*
Brian J. Oliver
Instructor of Physics
Niagara County Community College
3111 Saunders Settlement Road
Sanborn, NY 14132
(716)731-3271 x375