You think a fridge works by using a heating element? Does this in any way strike you as odd?

SpaceGazelle wrote:

You think a fridge works by using a heating element? Does this in any way strike you as odd?

Isn't that the nature of an endothermic reaction?  You put heat in and get a negative return on your investment?

EDIT:  This is why I'm not a scientist or a heating engineer or...

I just skim-read about how a fridge works and it made sense, sort of.

What are the seasons caused by then?

Tilt of the earth, innit.

I expect you're right. No wonder religion is rife. It can happen to the educated too. It took someone in my astronomy class about two full weeks to properly understand why there are two high tides a day.

My Dad taught me long division and did electrical engineering at Uni. He doesn't believe in quantum physics. Actually called it "a bunch of shite". Parents eh?

SpaceGazelle wrote:

He doesn't believe in quantum physics. Actually called it "a bunch of shite". Parents eh?

Having started a degree in Physics, I'm with your dad.  It is a total pile of shite.

Seriously, I changed from Physics to English Literature so I could read some more believable fiction.  At least English Lit. spends less time trying to convince you of its legitimacy.

I rank quantum mechanics up there with Human Resources as two areas of expertise that have entirely invented themselves, and validated themselves based on things they alone assumed in the first place.

I visit other threads too I suspect that QM is not all bunch of shite, just the bits that don't actually make logical sense given how that are talked about.

monkey wrote:

The quantum world doesn't work in the same way as the world around us because different laws of physics apply at that scale. These laws are never encountered by us until we study quantum mechanics, which is why they seem so strange.

Bingo.

Some_Guy wrote:

I don't disagree.  What I am pointing out is that things which do not make sense, do not explain anything.  There is no world in which nonsense = sense.

The transistors in the computer you typed that post on came about as a direct consequence of understanding electron movement at the quantum level.

Maybe some grand unifying theory will explain quantum phenomena in a way that is more intuitively pleasing, but it won't change the underlying reality that the quantum universe is extremely weird and operates under conditions most people will never have any contact with.  

Not claiming anything in the way of great expertise here btw. 
Midway through a degree.

I am surprised how often I use the combined gas law:

P1V1/T1 = P2V2/T2

To explain shit to people.

Some_Guy wrote:

Explain the theoretical reason for the results of the double slit experiment as put forward in mainstream QM and explain how it is valid, and then provide empirical evidence that demonstrates that the theory is sound.

Copenhagen interpretation => quantum entanglement => Bell Test Experiments.

It's sound in as much as it produces a way of predicting and working with quantum phenomena. It doesn't need to be definitive.