How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog

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Here you will find the most fundamental concepts related to quantum physics explained: Uncertainty principle, particle-wave duality, many worlds theory and quantum entanglement.

When Quantum Physics expert Dr Chad Orzel went to adopt a dog he never imagined he would end up with one as inquisitive as Emmy.

The thing I really liked about this book is that Orzel actually goes into detail about how the experiments were designed that proved various aspects of quantum theory. We'll see how they compare - and whether repetition and a different way of presenting the weirdness continue to nudge me along a wee bit in my attempts to comprehend the incomprehensible. On the other hand, the tone is somewhat different from the rest of the book, so this last chapter feels less connected to what comes before. They also provide a nice frame to contrast the difference between the classical and quantum worlds, and explain why effects look so different when things get big.

Orzel establishes a good foundation for the reader by developing the key ideas and establishing a basic vocabulary. I was looking for such explanation (not too high level, no mathematics) and this book really hit the sweet spot. If a particle can be in different positions at once, and lose its haecceity (the characteristics that define a thing as a particular thing, also known in philosophical literature by the funny expression "thisness"), then we are really not dealing with tiny billiard balls at all, are we? El autor presenta algunos de los hitos de la física en forma de situaciones que hipotéticamente, le podrían de ser de utilidad en a un perro al momento de tratar de atrapar a un conejo o ardilla, recibir más premios, o de las posibilidades de encontrar más comida tirada en el piso de una cocina.Turns out we are running into very similar linguistic problems when we adopt the expression 'field' in the hope this would solve the issues.

Before reading the book, I was a little concerned about it being just another “cutesy” approach to a very difficult topic. It is less so because the mental image of a 'field' seems less ingrained in the collective psyche than that of a 'particle'. When adopted from the shelter by physics professor Chad Orzel, she becomes immediately fascinated by his work. People usually tend to explain it as an inability of measurement, which is not the only reason of uncertainty. These properties do not need a physical carrier to exist meaningfully, and as they do not, neither do they need a linguistic label that fixes a mental picture that robs them of this free existence.So the dog has a great idea to split in 2 and go both ways round the tree, that way, the bunny can't escape. The idea of this revised way of thinking about reality is to reverse the relationship between an object and its properties - and then get rid of the object. I know that dog of yours is a brain-box, but I must confess I liked your book despite its unique selling point, rather than because of it. If you’re really into quantum mechanics and learn about it but you have little or no knowledge of the concept, you will definitely enjoy this but you have to prepare yourself for some hard and heavy-duty reading, it took me almost two months to complete this little compact book. But if we thought of objects as abstract bundles of properties, we would find it easier to intuit the world of quantum dynamics.

Chad Orzel’s book How to Teach [Quantum] Physics to Your Dog is an enjoyable analysis of many of the basic concepts of quantum mechanics. Now I know that most people would rather undergo painful dental surgery than spend their free time reading a book about science, but this book deserves a chance. I have started to think about particles as a kind of non-local 'fog' that is spread out across the entire universe, with different densities at different, specific, spacetime locations. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy to read and after some chapters I had to watch some videos and do further reading to really comprehend the things covered here.It was heavy reading in all, whilst I relatively enjoyed it, I wouldn't read it again and by the last couple of chapters I found myself almost forcing myself to complete the read. He makes the point that dogs (and nonscientists) have an advantage in learning quantum physics because they have fewer preconceived notions of how the world works, so they can more easily accept some of the basic concepts. I was a bit disappointed in what I thought was short shrift given to the Many Worlds interpretation, but I guess his point was essentially that it could be entirely right but we can't ever know, because all those other worlds are lost to us. An adult recognises the object as a ball first, and then identifies properties attached to the object - round, spherical, squishy, red.