As the title says, Quantum Tantrums has moved. You can find us at http://myersfamily.co.cc/QT
The new site has tons more features and will allow me do more with this blog now that the family is expanding.
This site will no longer be maintained. Please change your bookmarks.
The proudest hubby on the block
Time to take a quick break from the normal blog content. This post contains no science content, no reference to our baby, and no attempt at subtle witty humor, but if you're only ever going to read one post on this blog, i hope it is this one.
Today, Liz graduated from vet school, and official became Dr. Elizabeth Myers, D.V.M. Today marked the end of fours years of the most grueling academic marathon ever conceived. People who haven't been through it just don't understand what it really is like. Vet school is an 18-20 hour/day job. No, that's not a typo, that's per day. There are no weekends, no holidays, and sleep really is considered an optional activity. I've been here every day doing everything I can do to try and help, and I honestly believe that I don't even know just how grueling it really has been.
Impressively, Liz didn't just get by; she excelled. She stayed focused, kept her head down and kept moving forward until finally reaching today's inevitable conclusion. She's passed every obstacle with intense determination and handled every hardship with grace.
It would be hard to find anyone more proud of their spouse than I am today. Congratulations Liz! Enjoy the celebration. You've earned every minute of it.
The Quantum State of our unborn child
Is case you haven't heard, Liz and I are having a boy. We've known for a couple weeks now; just long enough for me to collect my thoughts and figure out how to word this blog post. It turns out that, like many things, the process of determining the sex of the baby can modeled using quantum mechanics. I'll spare you the mathematics, but i'll do my best to explain:
In quantum mechanics, we describe the state of a particle based on it's possibles states. Oddly, predictions regarding the behavior of the particle are made by assuming that all states are simultaneously present. So an electron is assumed to be half spin up and spin down and half spin down, even though it is impossible for an electron to be both at the same time.
Also, the act of measuring the quantum state of the particle is said to "compress" the quantum state; meaning you'd now know that the electron is spin down and this you can ignore the spin up portion of your compression. This is often misrepresented as "changing the result by measuring it."
I'm sure you can see where this is going. (Or perhaps not. It makes perfect sense to me, but that doesn't really mean it'll make sense to anyone else, now does it?) Before the sex of the baby was determined at the ultrasound appointment, we really had no idea whether it was a boy or a girl. In a sense our baby was both. We had boy names and girl names, pink baby clothes and blue baby clothes, and we'd both had dreams with the baby as a boy and as a girl. See? any predictions were being made with the assumption that our child was both male and female.
Then we had our ultrasound appointment and we compressed the quantum state of the little poppy seed. Now we know that our child is definitely a boy. All the girl portions of the baby's quantum state are no longer being considered, so our predictions have truly been changed by the act of measuring the baby's sex.
And you thought quantum mechanics had no use in your daily life, didn't you?...
In quantum mechanics, we describe the state of a particle based on it's possibles states. Oddly, predictions regarding the behavior of the particle are made by assuming that all states are simultaneously present. So an electron is assumed to be half spin up and spin down and half spin down, even though it is impossible for an electron to be both at the same time.
Also, the act of measuring the quantum state of the particle is said to "compress" the quantum state; meaning you'd now know that the electron is spin down and this you can ignore the spin up portion of your compression. This is often misrepresented as "changing the result by measuring it."
I'm sure you can see where this is going. (Or perhaps not. It makes perfect sense to me, but that doesn't really mean it'll make sense to anyone else, now does it?) Before the sex of the baby was determined at the ultrasound appointment, we really had no idea whether it was a boy or a girl. In a sense our baby was both. We had boy names and girl names, pink baby clothes and blue baby clothes, and we'd both had dreams with the baby as a boy and as a girl. See? any predictions were being made with the assumption that our child was both male and female.
Then we had our ultrasound appointment and we compressed the quantum state of the little poppy seed. Now we know that our child is definitely a boy. All the girl portions of the baby's quantum state are no longer being considered, so our predictions have truly been changed by the act of measuring the baby's sex.
And you thought quantum mechanics had no use in your daily life, didn't you?...
It's a little like Sonar...
or maybe exactly like sonar... but who's counting.
Above you'll see our first "official" sonogram of the little poppy seed. Yes, the little cursor does point to the baby, and if that wasn't obvious enough, the technician felt the need to label it. See, the "Baby" in the top left? Yep, that was added for our benefit. Go figure.
Interestingly, The appointment came with strict instructions for Liz: Come with a full bladder. It made sense to me, the sound waves travel through liquid much better than air or tissue. Liz wasn't so happy about this development. She apparently loaded up on the liquids a bit early. Combine that with the appointment starting over 10 minutes late and the result was one uncomfortable mom-to-be. I'm pretty sure she was more excited about getting to run to the bathroom then she was to see our child.
We'd already seen the little one a couple weeks before, but these pictures we so much clearer. That was sort of expected, of course, but what wasn't expected was that the full bladder would show up on the sonogram. Ok, look back at the picture. See that big black blog above the baby. Ya, that one. The one that more than 3 times larger than subject of that particular photo. That's it. Kinda makes it easy to understand her running out of then when she was allowed to, now doesn't it.
It Begins...
Quantum Tantrums has arrived. I've been told that my math and physics training had led my brain to often head in directions that aren't exactly normal. I figured that it would be interesting to record some of my odd ramblings as Liz and I adapt to the wonderful world of parenthood. So basically, in this blog, you'll find... well... whatever i feel like writing about.
If you're looking for a more complete, and better written, source of information on the happenings of our family, see our Family Blog which my Liz is in charge of.
If you're looking for a more complete, and better written, source of information on the happenings of our family, see our Family Blog which my Liz is in charge of.
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