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uncertainty principle
physics
Also known as: Heisenberg uncertainty principle, indeterminacy principle
- Also called:
- Heisenberg uncertainty principle or indeterminacy principle
- Key People:
- Werner Heisenberg
- Related Topics:
- wave-particle duality
- zero-point energy
uncertainty principle, statement, articulated (1927) by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg, that the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory. The very concepts of exact position and exact velocity together, in fact, have no meaning in nature. Ordinary experience provides no clue of this principle. It is easy to measure both the position and the velocity of, say, an automobile, because the uncertainties implied by this principle for ordinary objects are too small to be observed. The complete rule stipulates that the product of the uncertainties in position ...(100 of 481 words)