Heisenberg

[Claudia Luong 4K]

I have trouble understanding how to apply Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Just to confirm, if the problem states, for example, that the speed is known to be +/- 0.55 m/s then the change in velocity that we plug into the equation would be 2(0.55) and not 0.55 right?

[604656370]

Yes, that is correct! The uncertainty in velocity is the aggregate unknown velocity. For instance, if the velocity is stated to be 1 m/s +/- 0.55 m/s then the velocity could be between 0.45 m/s and 1.55 m/s. Thus, the uncertainty would be 1.55 - 0.45 = 1.10 m/s (or 2 X 0.55).

[daniela3D]

Correct! Each time you see +/-, multiply the number given by 2.