An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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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.