Everybody talks about it.

Apparently you can prove everything with it.

UFOs, space travel, other dimensions.

Where do my socks go in the washing machine? ...

If you don’t mention it people think you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Actually I don’t really know what quantum physics is.

I think I’ll get a thin book on it.

I don’t want to make things too complicated.

but I’m now thinking myself into the matter

and one experience that always comes up when I think about quantum physics is…

when I was young

not too long ago, when I was about 15, 16 years old

I was member of a club where we did gliding

Gliders are small planes for one or two people without an engine

As they don’t have an engine you have to find a way to get them into the air

before you can fly them

There are two ways.

One is using another plane that has a engine

which we didn’t do

The second possibility is a winch

and I explain that in a moment. That was what we did.

The planes were stored somewhere in town in a big hall, disassembled, on hangers.

On the weekend we just took the hangers and drove out to the fields,

the forest, outside of town

assembled the planes, put them on one side of a big field,

one kilometer long

and a big truck with a winch on the other side of the field

The winch was a 250 horse power, 8 cylinder Chevy engine, something like that

with a steel rope, one kilometer steel rope

and that steel rope was pulled to the other end of the field

hooked into a plane and then reeled in

and the plane went up

80 to 100 kilometers per hour speed, for a few seconds

and then it was 300 to 400 meters high

and then automatically the rope disengaged

and gently glided back to the ground on a small parachute.

To pull this rope from one end of the field to the other

we used small cars.

And I’m now moving closer to the topic of quantum physics

small cars, old cars, VW beetles

they were not allowed on the street anymore

We weren’t allowed on the street either because we didn’t have a license

but we used these cars and we drove these cars and we loved it

That’s where we learnt how to drive

It was fun.

So we pulled this rope from one end to the other

and when the planes landed we also used the cars

to pull the planes back to where they belonged for the next start

very slow, because the pilot had to hold the wing

Also with the rope attached… 20 km/h… not much, second gear

So far so good. One problem…

or not a problem, rather a hassle

it took hours to assemble and disassemble the planes and go back to town

so sometimes on the weekend we decided to stay up there

So instead of disassembling the planes we pulled them into a small hollow

near the trees, secured them, put up a tent

and slept overnight... fire

everything, was great, great experience

the younger ones, those without a family

also the cars, about the cars...

During the daytime we were confined to the purpose of

pulling ropes and planes at slow speed

at night there was no such limitations

so some people drove around, we drove around with these cars

it was amazing what these cars still had in them in terms of power

Problem: Sometimes in the morning these cars had dents

that weren't there in the evening

So some of the grown-ups assumed that someone was driving these cars at night

That was not allowed.

and a bigger problem was something could happen

Something could get damaged

they were very worried about that issue

because we couldn't even get insurance for that

because the cars weren't supposed to drive off the field

So if somebody drove through the woods

damaged some fence - we'd have to fix it

Somebody runs over somebody, injures somebody

injures himself - we can close shop

because it cost so much money we can't pay that.

And so on and so on. So at some point they said

we can't stay overnight anymore.

If this doesn't stop we have to go home every evening

come back every morning - no matter how long it takes.

One young guy then came up and he had a theory.

He was studying physics

so he had a theory about these dents

and he explained to all of us

that the atoms -

- and we are now fully in quantum physics at this moment

- the atoms they vibrate, they oscillate

around a certain zero point and most of the time--

I mean everywhere, not just in cars

in trees, in flowers and here

and usually these movements of the atoms

cancel each other out

and everything looks stable and firm.

But if all the atoms suddenly oscillate in one direction

then the car could move in that direction

would move in that direction

and could hit a tree, for example, in the process

And then the atoms oscillate back in the same direction

and the car moves back

A little bit of a stretch maybe.

What are the odds that all the atoms move back in the same direction?

But anyway, there is some logic to it

It could be. Can't argue with logic

But the grown-ups didn't pick up on that

It dragged on a bit a little bit

and I don't know exactly anymore how it ended

It ended amicably

even though dents kept appearing

and nobody observed anything unusual over night

But I feel, I'm sure actually

that if we had known more about quantum physics at that time

we could have made a much stronger case

So because of that I'm going to add quantum physics to my lectures.

If you have questions, any ideas,

anything you want me talk about in the context of quantum physics

don't hesitate, ask a question, comment... whatever.

so far so good...

Have a nice day. Please check back.