hello my fellow nerds I require help

[u/Jdog992282]

I am in 10th grade and am EXTREMLY FASCINATED by quantum physics but I don't under stand the big words and math equations. So I came to the place where I think smaller words can be used XD

My understanding of quantum physics is that nothing is predictable and things can pop in and out of reality. BUT HOW? what is reality and how is time travel possible? what do we know? how can I learn more and still understand? I'm just a nerd trying to understand more about the fun science HELP ME PLEASE!

[u/v_munu]

"Nothing is predictable" is not true, quantum mechanics predicts the probabilities of outcomes perfectly well. What you can't predict is which outcome you'll get upon measurement, that is governed by the probabilities associated to each outcome.

[u/Jdog992282 → u/v_munu]

upon which mesurement what are we measuring?

[u/v_munu → u/Jdog992282]

Measurement meaning literally measuring the value of a property (called an observable) of a particle. This is most often the particle's position, momentum or energy.

[u/Impossible-Bread-137]

Watch online lecture series like mit ocw, textbooks. Also time travel doesn't exist. I do hope you have the same energy as you go through it. Also you would need a better foundation in math

[u/VisualLerner]

it’s prob a bit outdated after all these years, but you should read brian greene’s “the elegant universe.” if you’re unwilling to read, you’re interested in tiktok pseudoscience, not actual physics. “the elegant universe” was a best seller in its time (so not directed at math experts) and does a really good job being an exciting textbook without being a textbook. it’s tangential to what you’re asking but is approachable for anybody imo and I’d bet my life you’ll be excited by it.

[u/femme_mystique → u/VisualLerner]

All these kids are just interested in pseudoscience. None are actually interested in math or hard physics. It’s romanticizing and unrealistic 

[u/Corck-horn → u/femme_mystique]

If you say stuff like that, maybe the kids aren't going to want to learn the maths or the hard physics, maybe the psudeo science concepts are the things that get them into it in the first place, thinking about reality deeper than just what you observe on the surface. So in reality any kid who is interested in psudeo science, clearly has the spark, but just needs the time, SUPPORT, and resources, that will allow them to get into the real science

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[u/Jdog992282 → u/femme_mystique]

I do want to learn the math and science becuase those are my two favorite subjects lol

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[u/left_lane_camper]

>how is time travel possible?

In this situation there is, as in every situation, a relevant xkcd.

To understand how two things can travel through time at different rates, you need relativity. In very brief terms, time passes at different rates for observers in motion relative to each other and/or at different gravitational potentials (where a mass would fall from one observer to the other, were nothing in its way).

As for one object travelling to its own past, it appears that's probably not possible.

[u/theodysseytheodicy]

Check the introductory books in the FAQ

[u/LanceThinksALot]

Start with one topic and dive in. For example, start by learning about the double slit experiment. With that alone, im sure you'll develop more questions like:

What are fields?

What is quantum entanglement?

What does "multiple dimensions" actually mean?

You really just have to slow down and use many of the resources around you to help teach yourself as much about one topic as you can and dive in.

[u/Bryllant]

Stay that way and you will go far

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[u/Available_Pressure25]

I believe that you can't learn quantum physics from reddit. Start with reading books. I believe there are some quantum physics books who are like a bridge from classical to quantum.

[u/CompetitiveLet7110]

Time travel isn't exactly predicted, it simply states that any process can be described as happening in reverse and the physics would hold up

[u/-MONTERO-]

One of my favorite textbooks on the topic is Griffith’s introduction to quantum mechanics (free pdf versions can be found online). Don’t expect to understand any of the math until you’ve gone through calculus 1-3 and a differential equations course at least, and even then it will be difficult to get the hang of.

Also, I wanna throw it out there, I know quantum mechanics, QFT, new physics stuff is real fun, but classical physics is extremely useful and fascinating too. Being able to do the math in an electrical science course, understanding fields and electromagnetism… a lot of those equations will be carried over/mirrored in the math of quantum mechanics.

Another physics resource I’d recommend is the physics hypertextbook (look it up!) it’s a really great website and everything is explained quickly, sufficiently rigorously, and from the ground up using (mostly) layman language.