April 26, 2024, 09:42:45 AM
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Topic: Why does Heisenberg uncertainty principle not apply to macroscopic objects?  (Read 5249 times)

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Offline Foobarz

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Yeah, I really don't understand why the right hand side of the Heisenberg equation is h/4pi (h is regular Planck's constant). How come this equation only applies to small objects like electrons and not large objects like a human? Is this related to the de Broglie equation that shows how macroscopic objects have negligible wavelengths (since the really small Planck's constant divided by a high mass and high velocity equals a very very small wavelength)?

Offline Borek

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How come this equation only applies to small objects like electrons and not large objects like a human? Is this related to the de Broglie equation that shows how macroscopic objects have negligible wavelengths (since the really small Planck's constant divided by a high mass and high velocity equals a very very small wavelength)?

Yes. Heisenberg uncertainty principle applies to all objects, but the larger the object is, the less important it is.
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