You might think I’m about to tell a joke. But no, not me. This is serious physics, folks!
Suppose a particle falls into a hole, and, as in a nightmare (or as in a certain 1970s movie featuring light sabers), the walls of the hole start closing in. The particle will just stay there, awaiting the end. But if the same thing happens to a wavicle, the outcome is very different. Like a magician, the wavicle will escape!
Today I’ll explain why.
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ON July 11, 2024
In my role as a teacher and explainer of physics, I have found that the ambiguities and subtleties of language can easily create confusion. This is especially true when well-known English words are reused in scientific contexts, where they may or may not be quite appropriate.
The word “particle”, as used to describe “elementary particles” such as electrons and quarks and photons, is arguably one such word. It risks giving the wrong impression as to what electrons etc. are really like. For this reason, I sometimes replace “particle” with the word “wavicle”, a word from the 1920s that has been getting some traction again in recent years. [I used it in my recent book, where I also emphasized the problems of language in communicating science.]
In today’s post I want to contrast the concepts of particle, wave and wavicle. What characterizes each of these notions? Understanding the answer is crucial for anyone who wants to grasp the workings of our universe.
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ON July 9, 2024
After a tiring spring that followed the publication of the book, I’ve taken a little break. But starting tomorrow, I’ll be posting on the blog again, focusing again on the important differences between the conventional notion of “particle” and the concept of “wavicle”. I prefer the latter to the former when referring to electrons, quarks and other elementary objects.
Today, though, some book-related news.
First, a book review of sorts — or at least, a brief but strong informal endorsement — appeared in the New York Times, courtesy of the linguist, author and columnist John McWhorter. Since McWhorter is not a scientist himself, I’m especially delighted that he liked the book and found it largely comprehensible! The review was in a paragraph-long addendum to a longer column about language; here’s an excerpt:
I have come across another book that teaches us new ways of looking at things. It taught me that matter consists of the accumulation not of bits of stuff but of standing vibrations. . . Matt Strassler’s marvelous new “Waves in an Impossible Sea.” . . . makes it possible to understand such things without expertise in physics or math.
Another positive review recently appeared in Nautilus magazine, written by Ash Jogalekar, a scientist himself — but a chemist rather than a physicist. The full review is available here.
Lastly, the audiobook is in preparation, though I still don’t know the time frame yet.
ON July 8, 2024
For those of you currently in western Massachusetts or eastern upstate New York, some news: I’ll be speaking about my book today, Monday, June 24th, 5:30 pm, in Lenox, MA. At this free event, held at the local institution known simply as “The Bookstore“, I’ll read from the text and discuss its central message. After that, I’ll answer questions from the audience and sign books.
In other news — for those of you waiting (im)patiently for the audiobook, I am glad to report that there is finally some forward movement on that front. I’m still not sure how long it will take for the audio version to become available, but progress should be steady and rapid from here.
ON June 24, 2024
[Update: unfortunately, the link below was taken down before the tour, with no explanation. The tour was instead recorded at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67mF5Yx7ZG0.]
Would anyone like a tour of the ATLAS and CMS experiments, the general purpose particle detectors at the Large Hadron Collider that were used to discover the particle known as the Higgs boson? A live, virtual tour is being given today (Tuesday June 11) on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=askq7-9CzrU, at 1700 CERN time — that’s 1600 London time, 11:00 New York time, 8:00 San Francisco time. Find out how these enormous, complex, magnificent devices are constructed, and learn how their various parts work together, 25 million times every second, to allow scientists to track the tiniest objects in the universe. Includes a Q&A at the end for participants.
ON June 11, 2024
This evening, Thursday June 6th at 6:30 pm, I’ll be joined at the Boston Public Library by Sarah Demers, professor at Yale and member of the ATLAS experiment, and Katrina Miller, Ph.D. in neutrino physics and writer for, among other publications, the New York Times. We’ll serve on a panel entitled “Particle Physics: Where the Universe and Humanity Collide”, talking about the future of particle physics and about how we got into physics in the first place. This event, intended for the general public, is part of the international scientific meeting that I’m attending this week, the 12th annual Large Hadron Collider Physics conference. I hope to see some of you there!
ON June 6, 2024
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