If we try to push the resolution of our measurements too far, if we look at any phenomenon in excruciatingly fine detail in time or space, we will start to see a breakdown of smoothness. In Usain Bolt’s speed data, the wiggles took a smooth trend and made it look as bushy as a pipe cleaner. The same thing would happen with any form of motion if we could measure it at the molecular scale. Down at that level, motion becomes jittery and far from smooth. Calculus would no longer have much to tell us, at least not directly.
Quantum foam
