Roush+Week+9+assignment

The shift from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics is the biggest shift that ever happened in science. This is shown by the fact that so many scientists resisted it at the time. The most amazing part of quantum mechanics is that, especially in the beginning, it was purely hypothetical and based on mathematics. Quantum mechanics is the prime example in science of theory being fitted to the observations. Max Planck, the grandfather of quantum theory, introduced his constant into the equations that he was working with simply because they made the mathematics fit the observations. Planck himself hated the idea of a quantum universe, but the mathematics was simply incontrovertible. When people started believing in quantum theory as an actual system of mechanics, Planck along with many of his colleagues hated the idea. Today, however, nobody could practice physics while believing solely in classical mechanics. Even by the 1920s, quantum mechanics was so successful that almost every physicist believed it. What happened to make such a revolutionary idea so accepted so quickly? When contrasted to evolution, we see that the two are similar in every way but one. They are both entirely theoretical, almost impossible to prove, and totally revolutionary. There fundamental difference is that nobody really cares about quantum mechanics. If humans came from apes, then that shakes the fundaments of every mainstream philosophy of humanity. If electrons can only move around the electron in orbits of fixed energies, then the average person can still go about their daily life in their normal way. This shows how the acceptance of a revolutionary new theory directly relates to the relevance it has to the average person.