Alice in Quantumland Quotes

“Throughout the narrative you will find many statements that are obviously nonsensical and quite at variance with common sense. For the most part these are true.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“There are very few particles, if any, which are entirely real. They almost all have some virtual aspects, though some are more virtual than others.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“The vacuum is not completely empty, but is aseething mass of . . . short-lived particles.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“Oh no, you do not get any choice in the matter. What you are likely to see is determined by the probabilities for the various quantum states. What you actually see is a matter of random choice. You do not get to choose what will happen; the quantum amplitudes only give the probability of different results, but they do not fix what will happen. That is pure chance and only becomes fixed when an observation is made.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“The thing that you must remember about energy is that it is conserved, which is to say that there is always the same amount of it. It may convert from one form or another but the total amount is always the same.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“If a particle wants to have mass then it must find the energy to support it somehow. If it has any energy left over then it can use it to do other things. Not all particles bother with mass.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“Empty space" is, in fact, a seething brew of particle-antiparticle pairs.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“You may have heard the expression "The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer." Well in quantum mechanics the impossible takes a little longer, but it does last a little shorter. Virtual particles can enjoy all the benefits of energy which they do not possess, on a short-term free trial.. . . . But it is something for nothing you see, so they all want it.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“What is> forbidden had better be done pretty quickly.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“If you don't have any observation to show which hole the electrons go through, them you get interference between the effects of the two holes. If you do observe the electrons, then you find that indeed they are in one place or the other, not both, but in that case they also act as you would expect if they had come through one hole only and you do not get any interference. The problem is that there is no way in which you can look at the electrons without disturbing them. . . .”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“Visible photons now, the ones that make up the light that people use to see by, they have a higher frequency and more energy. One of those can have quite a noticeable effect. The really affluent ones though, the big spenders, are the X-ray and gamma photons. Each one of those carries a lot of energy around with it and they can really make their presence felt on their surroundings if they choose to interact.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“Light is not a smooth continuous stream. It is made up of a lot of quanta, little packettes of energy, so that the flow of light is lumpy. These quanta, or particles, of light are called photons. Practically everything comes in quantum of some size. This gives quantum physics its name, you know.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

“What is not forbidden is compulsory.”
― Robert Gilmore, Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics