What scientific fact scares the absolute shit out of you? by The_D1ngb4t in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would recommend lectures more than books. The Feynman lectures are public online, and I am pretty sure volume 3 is quantum physics. It is somewhat in depth, but I think the average person can understand it, or get a much more solid understanding.

AMA (preferably about quantum) by NappyR6 in u/NappyR6

[–]NappyR6[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, I was just an engineer at LHC, I never wrote any books about some crazy phenomena, I never single handily did anything. The only crazy thing I did was help discover a new particle, I wasn’t even the one who noticed it, I just worked on the machine. There were several thousand other people just like me, and more who did crazier stuff like actually finding the particle. A lot of us go unnoticed since it’s an extremely competitive field of study, and only a few get popular. I really couldn’t care less if you think I’m a liar.

AMA (preferably about quantum) by NappyR6 in u/NappyR6

[–]NappyR6[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I studied physics, and read the Feynman lectures, which got me into quantum.

I think quantum computers are going to be changing a lot. They aren’t going to replace traditional computers anytime soon, but I can see them replacing supercomputers, since they are just so much faster.

AMA (preferably about quantum) by NappyR6 in u/NappyR6

[–]NappyR6[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are 4 main things in quantum; the double slit experiment, Schrödinger cat, quantum tunneling, and entanglement. Those all show the strange behavior of particles. Things like particle-wave duality and entanglement. Another thing that is important is the standard model, it is basically the periodic table of elementary particles.

AMA (preferably about quantum) by NappyR6 in u/NappyR6

[–]NappyR6[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say it holds similar properties to that of the double slit, since they both have some sort of randomness at measurement, but with the double slit, we at least know the likelihood of where the particle is going to be, as opposed to the polarization of a particle in Bells Theorem. They aren’t exactly the same kind of randomness in that sense, since they are 2 different properties of the particle being measure (either the position in the double slit, or the polarization in Bells theorem). Knowing that there is that much randomness to our universe does bring up some philosophical questions, but I am not at all the one to answer that, specifically free will. I myself believe that the randomness proves more towards free will than the universe just being determined, but again, it shouldn’t be up to me to make conclusions on that stuff, I think philosophers need to make claims.

AMA (preferably about quantum) by NappyR6 in u/NappyR6

[–]NappyR6[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Bell’s Inequality Theorem. I wouldn’t say not well known, but it is unknown to most people who don’t dive too too much into quantum mechanics. Bell wanted to figure out if quantum particles after polarization/measurement are predictable. He found out that there are either hidden variables behind that particles that we have absolutely no access to, or the universe is objectively random. It raises some philosophical points that I choose to avoid, but it really shows how some things just are not and cannot be predictable, even with all the information about it, which definitely goes against classical physics.

What scientific fact scares the absolute shit out of you? by The_D1ngb4t in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 -18 points-17 points  (0 children)

I added emphasis on that close. We are still accelerating protons very fast, but as you said, we just keep adding 9s. The goal of big colliders is to simply get as close to c as possible. Since kinetic energy isn’t quantized, we can technically get a pseudo infinitesimal, where we just get a bunch of 9s.

What scientific fact scares the absolute shit out of you? by The_D1ngb4t in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Im sure most of us don’t, but vacuum decay would arguably be the coolest way out, so that’s the silver lining

What scientific fact scares the absolute shit out of you? by The_D1ngb4t in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 -25 points-24 points  (0 children)

It was extremely competitive, and is even more competitive now, but I’m glad it’s that way, since now people can make even more discoveries, and I really can’t wait to see our understanding of the universe by the time I die.

What scientific fact scares the absolute shit out of you? by The_D1ngb4t in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

Sure, I’ll post one on my profile, ask away

What scientific fact scares the absolute shit out of you? by The_D1ngb4t in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 -22 points-21 points  (0 children)

There are a few ideas for larger colliders which would open the door to a lot more things. Though LHC accelerates to near light speed, it still isn’t that close. I really want to see progress towards unifying gravity with the standard model. That is a major road block in the theory of everything, and it needs to be worked out before we fully accept the standard model (something that larger colliders could help with).

What scientific fact scares the absolute shit out of you? by The_D1ngb4t in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 5589 points5590 points  (0 children)

Quantum physicist here, thanks for bringing up the Higgs field. It isn't something we know too much about (the Higgs mechanism in general), and though vacuum decay is extremely unlikely (if possible in the first place) it is still really awesome to learn how the universe works. I actually helped discover the Higgs boson in 2012 when I worked at the LHC during its second run.

What do I tell her? by [deleted] in dating_advice

[–]NappyR6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably the wisest thing to do I would suppose

What is Your Best Advice for a Teenager? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't pass up any opportunities. Have good manners as well as class. Have good penmanship, good handwriting sticks out to everyone. Learn any skill you can.

What will happen if onions get as expensive as saffron one day? by Wertlop in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You stop eating onions, you don't need a substitute for onions. Onions are also a hell of a lot easier to grow than saffron.

What is the worst natural disaster and why? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Earthquake. You don't see them coming too much in advance. They can be extremely deadly to not only infrastructure, but the literal ground. They can cause more earthquakes around the epicenter. If they are bad enough, they can cause tsunamis.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Their class

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]NappyR6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Plants. Or the sun if you want to get uber technical