Minimum Uncertainty

$\Delta p \Delta x\geq \frac{h}{4\pi }$

Ashley Lopez 3J
Posts: 90
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2020 10:06 pm

Minimum Uncertainty

A question on Sapling asked us to find the minimum uncertainty. My question is is there a maximum uncertainty or is there only ever a minimum uncertainty? I feel confused just because of the word "minimum". Is there a reason why it's called minimum?

Gustavo_Chavez_1K
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:46 pm

Re: Minimum Uncertainty

I am not sure whether this is correct, but I believe that minimum uncertainty is basically the smallest value of "error" that there can be. Like lets say that the uncertainty value given for a certain measurement in a question is 15, we would use 15 to find the minimum uncertainty value. But if we were asked to find the maximum uncertainty value then we would think of this value as + /- 15. With this we would multiply 15 by 2 since we are looking at the fact that the value we get for our measurement may be either 15 units below or above the number calculated.

Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:55 pm

Re: Minimum Uncertainty

There is no maximum uncertainty because there is a minimum uncertainty. To be clear, this means that you can only be so sure about the position or momentum of the particle/wave. By definition, this means that your prediction of position/momentum can be completely wrong no matter how sure you are because you can never be completely sure.