"Quantum mechanics is probabilistic whereas classical mechanics is deterministic." Discuss.
Answers
Answer:
There is a rule that physicist often use to separate classical physics from quantum. If Planck's constant appears in the equations, it is quantum physics. ... In this paradigm, all of physical reality is a giant machine that ticks forward in time, changing its configuration predictably according to deterministic laws.
Answer:
Actually, classical mechanics is deterministic only in an ideal sense, that it is possible IN PRINCIPLE to determine the future state of a system given a complete and exact specification of its state at some point in time. To require determinism in this way would mandate specifying the state at time t to an arbitrary level of precision and accuracy, clearly an impossible objective. Even something as simple as a three-body problem has no exact analytical solution, except for special cases. The non-linear nature of classical dynamics is illustrated in the popular notion of the butterfly effect, the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon can have an influence on the formation of a hurricane over the Atlantic while extremely unlikely, it’s still possible. But while classical mechanics may be non-deterministic, it’s not probabilistic as is the case for quantum mechanics. For the latter, the future state of a QM-level system cannot be determined even in principle, thus there is a fundamental difference between the two in that respect.