Question 1

Which two particle properties did Heisenberg show cannot be precisely known simultaneously?

Accepted Answer

Position and momentum

Question 2

The Schrödinger equation can be used to determine a particle's exact position at any one instant in time.

Accepted Answer

False. We can only determine a particle's most probable position.

Question 3

Max Planck first discovered that...

Accepted Answer

Light is emitted in quanta (discrete/distinct packets) called photons

Question 4

DNA has a helical molecular structure

Accepted Answer

Hydrogen is a simple system with a single electron and a single proton

Question 5

Which statement accurately describes the connection between two entangled particles?

Accepted Answer

Measurements on one can be inferred from the other, regardless of distance

Question 6

Which of these ideas did Einstein resist, critiquing it as "spooky action at a distance"?

Accepted Answer

Entanglement applies to particles separated even by large distances

Question 7

What leading theory did Young's "twin-slit experiment" overturn?

Accepted Answer

Newton's definition of light as strictly particle-based ("corpuscular")

Question 8

Paul Rudd shrinks to subatomic size in the 2015 movie Antman. What physics are problematic in that scenario?

Accepted Answer

He couldn't see; visible light's wavelength would be larger than his body.

Question 9

If this panel of light switches were all entangled with each other, which statement about them would be true?

Accepted Answer

Flipping one switch flips all the others, regardless of their state.

Question 10

Which characteristic of light most directly contributes to photoelectric emission of electrons (from a metal)?

Accepted Answer

particle-like behavior; electrons are ejected by absorbed photon energy

Quantum Theory with NASA, Part 2: Quantum Physics Concepts & History

2) The Schrödinger equation can be used to determine a particle's exact position at any one instant in time.