What’s the underlying principle on why you can’t know the position and momentum of a particle at the same time? Is there an explanation? I don’t have any knowledge of calculus or the math behind anything so I’m asking here, thanks!
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I’ll do my best. Basically, it’s math. Every particle is described by a math problem, its wave function. That function is a mathematical expression that describes the particle in its entirety.
When we want to know something about that particle, we use an operator, a math operation applied to that function to give us an answer. Not all operators give us an answer that makes sense.
Heisenberg uncertainty principle basically states that there are operators that can’t be applied to the same function at the same time. If we change the problem to make one operator work, the other stops working. Position and momentum are only one example of operators that can’t coexist. There are others.
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