would change the energy of electrons by collisions. In this process we, no doubt, would be able to calculate the position of the electron, but we would know very little about the velocity of the electron after the collision. Significance of Uncertainty Principle One of the important implications of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is that it rules out existence of definite paths or trajectories of electrons and other similar particles. The trajectory of an object is determined by its location and velocity at various moments.
If we know where a body is at a particular instant and if we also know its velocity and the forces acting on it at that instant, we can tell where the body would be sometime later. We, therefore, conclude that the position of an object and its velocity fix its trajectory. Since for a sub-atomic object such as an electron, it is not possible simultaneously to determine the position and velocity at any given instant to an arbitrary degree of precision, it is not possible to talk of the trajectory of an electron. The effect of Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is significant only for motion of microscopic objects and is negligible for that of macroscopic objects.
This can be seen from the following examples. If uncertainty principle is applied to an object of mass, say about a milligram ( – kg), then Werner Heisenberg ( – ) Werner Heisenberg ( – ) received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Munich in . He then spent a year working with Max Born at Gottingen and three years with Niels Bohr in Copenhagen.
He was professor of physics at the University of Leipzig from to . During World War II, Heisenberg was in charge of German research on the atomic bomb. After the war he was named director of Max Planck Institute for physics in Gottingen. He was also accomplished mountain climber.
Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in . The value of ∆ v ∆ x obtained is extremely small and is insignificant. Therefore,