The Uncertainty Principle is usually interpreted in two different ways:
a) as a statement that it is practically impossible to exactly determine both the location and momentum (or energy and time) of a particle because of the disturbances introduced by the observation process.
b) as a mathematical consequence of the assumption of wave functions which implicates certain relationships for the transformation of wave spectra between conjugate (complementary) variables (Fourier Transformation). Whereas the former interpretation affects only the practical knowledge regarding the particle coordinates, the latter is used to suggest that these cannot even be defined hypothetically.
This however is clearly an over-interpretation of the Schrodinger Equation which does not at all limit the applicability of classical physics as it only provides a tool for calculating atomic radiative transitions. It is only in this connection that the Uncertainty Principle has any real physical meaning (in the form of the relationship between radiative decay time and spectral line width).
Gregz
"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." -Abraham Lincoln
15th July 2001, 20:54
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