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Chemistry: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

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5. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is represented mathematically as deltax × m*deltav = h/2, where deltax is the uncertainty in the position, deltav is the uncertainty in the velocity and h is Planck's constant divided by 2. Would it be possible to develop an instrument that could determine both the position and velocity (momentum) of an atom or subatomic particle such as an electron and thus negate the uncertainty principle? Fully explain your answer.

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The solution is comprised of an explanation of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

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The answer is unequivocally no.
We cannot construct such an instrument and Heisenberg proved it mathematically.

The basic physical explanation (rather than the mathematical) is that when we measure any observable property of an object we interact with it. When we watch something through a microscope we use the interaction of the object with photons. When we use Atomic force microscopy we use a very thin tip that exerts van-Der-Waals forces on the object. Electron microscope bombards the object with electrons and so on and so forth.

This very interaction due to ...

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