“Waves in an Impossible Sea”: The 2024 science book of the year With so many new science books this year, I found @mattstrassler.bsky.social's "Waves in an Impossible Sea" to be far and away my favorite. Here's my summary, plus a deep Q&A interview with the author! bigthink.com/starts-with-... - ThreadSky

startswithabang.bsky.social • 82 days ago

“Waves in an Impossible Sea”: The 2024 science book of the year

With so many new science books this year, I found @mattstrassler.bsky.social's "Waves in an Impossible Sea" to be far and away my favorite.

Here's my summary, plus a deep Q&A interview with the author!

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/waves-in-an-impossible-sea-science-book-year/

Comments

dianneartful.bsky.social•82 days ago

Hoopla is an app that connects you with your library. I just borrowed this audiobook.
Check out Waves in an Impossible Sea #hoopladigital

matthewvannette.bsky.social•82 days ago

I'll probably read it, but I seriously dislike "wavicle" as a term. I feel it confuses the idea of a model of something with the thing itself. As Magritte said, ceci n'est pas une pipe.

One experimentalist's viewpoint, though.

mattstrassler.bsky.social•82 days ago

:-) but you like "particle" better? Why? Anyway, blame Eddington; the term is almost 100 years old.

matthewvannette.bsky.social•82 days ago

Not really. All observations of electrons are as discrete, localized entities, no? It seems they travel from here to there as wave-like things, but are detected as particle-like things. I prefer to think of them as neither rather than both. They're electrons. Their own thing.

mattstrassler.bsky.social•82 days ago

They are discrete, yes. Localized? depends on the measuring device. (More obvious with photons.,) But they're never completely localized; no device can do that. And they are always oscillating. This is all much clearer in quantum field theory than in quantum mechanics.

matthewvannette.bsky.social•82 days ago

The oscillation is based on a model. Must things be as our models describe? I'm not saying it is wrong, but the discrete nature of each detection is not a wave property. Particle is insufficient as well. The interpretation as either is based experience at our scale.

mattstrassler.bsky.social•82 days ago

Well, at a certain level, all knowledge is a model. But it is certainly useful to understand that photons oscillate; otherwise, what is the point of describing them as having frequency? The point is that electrons have a frequency also, which is not normally true of particles, but is true of waves.

paolocraviolatti.bsky.social•79 days ago

Just arrived
Can't wait to read it and understand some of it 😀

@mattstrassler.bsky.social

astrowriter.bsky.social•82 days ago

Thanks for the recommend!

superfluidmatt.bsky.social•82 days ago

Definitely my favorite too!

psthomso.bsky.social•82 days ago

📌

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