Riding the Quantum Wave

I've never been surfing other than body surfing when my kids were young on some small waves in the gulf of Mexico. But I can imagine riding the waves on the north side of Oahu in Hawaii would be a lot of fun if I had the skill to do it. Just to be one with the force of nature and with a little bit of risk involved as well. Yeah I think that would be a lot of fun.

When you talk about quantum physics, nothing is more basic than the wave. More specifically, the wave function. That is the basic way quantum physics is described, as a wave function that gives a mathematical solution of probabilities. There is no sure outcome in the quantum realm just like there isn't in the macro world that we live in. Everything comes down to probabilities. We are all riding on the wave of probabilities with some risk involved.

On a previous post, I spoke about how Einstein came up with his theory of relativity. He imagined himself riding on a light beam through space. It was simply a thought experiment, but it helped him to come up with perhaps the greatest theory ever by man.

I was imagining riding a quantum wave. Up over its peaks, and down through its lowest troughs. But what exactly would I be traveling through? Space? The quantum wave permeates all things. It is difficult to construct a thought experiment around riding a quantum wave.

What's even more bizarre is that a quantum wave contains an imaginary part that's described by complex numbers. What exactly is that? What is imaginary about it? Turns out there's nothing really imaginary about it at all. It's just imaginary in terms of mathematical description. It's a mathematical construct. It's a way to describe a real thing that can't be described in the normal ways that we use math with real numbers.

I have to admit, that I don't quite understand the relationship between math and science. I mean, I know that math is the common way that we have to describe the sciences, but I don't understand the divergence. Sometimes math comes out with strange solutions such as infinity. When that happens, there really is no relationship between math and science. So then what good is the mathematical equation that doesn't describe what we see in real life? Does it describe something else that we can't see?

If I could actually physically ride on a quantum wave, I suppose I would just be taking a journey to a range of probabilities. Depending where I stopped on that wave, I would be looking at the probability of a subatomic particle having a certain position or velocity at that spot. Not really that exciting of a journey after all is it?

What's more exciting, to me anyway, is that the subatomic world is described by quantum waves. That the subatomic world exists in a kind of a haze, until an observer looks at it. Then the wave collapses to a single point. But what happened to the wave? If I was riding that wave, and then somebody looked at me, I would stop and somebody could see me. But before they observed me, I would just be in the cloud. Waiting to be discovered.

On second thought, I guess I really would never want to ride the quantum wave. It sounds a bit too scary to me. Because if nobody ever ever observed me, would I ever exist, or just float in the nebulous cloud forever?