An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

Determined, fixed; established beyond doubt or question; indisputable. → determinism.

From O.Fr. certain, from V.L. *certanus, from L. certus "sure, fixed," originally a variant p.p. of cernere "to distinguish, decide."

Tâštig, from Mid.Pers. tâštig "certain," tâšitan "to cut, cleave, create," Mod.Pers. tarâšidan, Gilaki tâštan "to shave, scrape, cut," Av. taš- "to cut, fashion, shape, form," taša- "ax, hatchet," tašan- "creator, maker," cf. Skt. taks- "to cut, chop, form by cutting, make, create," taksan "carpenter," Gk. tekhne "art, skill, craft, method," L. textere "to weave;" PIE base *tek- "to shape, make."

The fact, quality, or state of being certain, especially on the basis of evidence. Something that is certain. → uncertainty; → uncertainty principle.

Noun from → certain.

The uncertainty in the measurement of the position and momentum of an elementary particle. The more precisely one quantity is known, the less certain the precision of the other. A similarly linked pair of quantities is the time and energy content in a volume of space.

Named after Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), the German physicist who in 1927 derived the uncertainty principle. In 1932 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics; uncertainty, from → un- "not" + → certainty; → principle.

The interval within which lies the actually measured value of a physical quantity and the true value of the same physical quantity.

→ measurement; uncertainty, from negation prefix un- + → certainty.

The state of being uncertain; unpredictability; indeterminacy. → uncertainty principle.

→ un- + → certainty.

A quantum mechanical principle due to Werner Heisenberg which states that the position and momentum of a particle cannot be determined simultaneously with any arbitrary accuracy. These quantities can be determined only with accuracies limited by the relation Δx.Δp ≥ (1/2)ħ, where Δx is the error in the determination of the position and Δp is the error in the momentum. A similar relation holds for the energy of a particle and the time, ΔE.Δt ≥ (1/2)ħ. Same as → Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

→ uncertainty; → principle.