Hi all — here’s my take on the “Twisted Children’s Shows” edition of Sketchwar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FADE IN:\u00a0<\/p>\n
INT. LAB – DAY<\/p>\n
Note: this is all animated. Think “Schoolhouse Rock.”<\/p>\n
VINH, a little boy, approaches DR. PHYSICS, an old scientist in a lab coat.<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
Dr. Physics?<\/p>\n
DR. PHYSICS<\/p>\n
Yes, Vinh?<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
I heard about something called “quantum physics” -- but I don’t know what it is!<\/p>\n
DR. PHYSICS<\/p>\n
Well, then, Vinh -- let me introduce you to a friend of mine!<\/p>\n
The HAMILTONIAN -- an excitable little poofball of fire with arms, legs, and googly eyes -- appears.<\/p>\n
HAMILTONIAN<\/p>\n
Hey, Vinh, let’s start by looking at the finite barrier quantum well!<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
The what?<\/p>\n
He takes Vinh’s hand and they start flying away --<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
I don’t want to go in the well!<\/p>\n
Poof!<\/i> They appear in --<\/p>\n
INT. FINITE-BARRIER WELL – NIGHT<\/p>\n
-- a deep well illuminated by glowy shapes.<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
Who are<\/i> you?!<\/p>\n
Music starts up. [It will continue throughout.]<\/p>\n
HAMILTONIAN<\/p>\n
(singing)<\/p>\n
I’m a Hamiltonian, the system’s energy \/ Potentials and derivatives together equals me! \/ And if it never changes, then the answer’s gonna be \/ Somethin’ that we’re about to see!<\/i><\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Vinh bangs on the walls.<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
Stupid! Finite! Barrier!<\/p>\n
Some unseen BACKGROUND SINGERS start singing.<\/p>\n
This frightens Vinh.<\/p>\n
BACKGROUND SINGERS (O.S.)<\/p>\n
The wavefunction’s time derivative \/ Equals the wavefunction’s second spatial derivative \/ Plus the wavefunction times potential e-ner-gy! \/ It’s as easy as that!<\/i><\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
Where are those voices coming from?<\/p>\n
HAMILTONIAN<\/p>\n
No time for that, little Vinh. We’ve got to introduce you to my friend!<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
I don’t want to meet your --<\/p>\n
A little matrix appears -- the EIGENVECTOR. Again, it has arms, legs, and googly eyes.<\/p>\n
EIGENVECTOR<\/p>\n
Hi, Vinh!<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
What is that?!<\/p>\n
The screen stretches, skews, and distorts.<\/p>\n
Everything but the eigenvector stretches with it.<\/p>\n
Vinh does not like being distorted.<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
AAAAH!<\/p>\n
EIGENVECTOR<\/p>\n
(singing)<\/p>\n
I’m a math solution, eigenvector is my name! \/ And under transformations, my direction stays the same!<\/i><\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
Stop stretching me! Ow! OW!<\/p>\n
EIGENVECTOR<\/p>\n
(singing)<\/p>\n
I solve the Hamiltonian, and that’s my claim to fame, \/ But that’s just part of the game!<\/i><\/p>\n
The screen stops distorting.<\/p>\n
EIGENVECTOR<\/p>\n
And that solution is called “eigenenergy.”<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
Eigen-what?<\/p>\n
EIGENVECTOR<\/p>\n
Now you’re getting it!<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
No I’m not!<\/p>\n
BACKGROUND SINGERS (O.S.)<\/p>\n
The eigenergies are quantized solutions \/ To the reduced eigenequation \/ Of the original Hamiltonian \/ It’s as easy as that!<\/i><\/p>\n
Vinh looks around in vain for the singers.<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
What’s a reduced -- what?<\/p>\n
HAMILTONIAN<\/p>\n
I’d say he’s still confused.<\/p>\n
EIGENVECTOR<\/p>\n
Time to bring in the big guy.<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
I don’t want to see the big guy!<\/p>\n
A giant mass of mathematical symbols -- Schr\u00f6dinger’s EQUATION -- floats down. Again: arms, legs, googly eyes.<\/p>\n
EQUATION<\/p>\n
(singing)<\/p>\n
I’m Schr\u00f6dinger’s equation, Vinh, and here’s what I equate: \/ How a system over time will change around its quantum state \/ I can tell you where it started and I know about its fate \/ Quantum physics is great --<\/i><\/p>\n
EVERYONE BUT VINH<\/p>\n
(singing)<\/p>\n
And it’s as easy as that!<\/i><\/p>\n
Poof!<\/i> The well and its denizens disappear.<\/p>\n
INT. LAB – DAY<\/p>\n
Vinh falls down to the floor next to Dr. Physics.<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
Ow!<\/p>\n
DR. PHYSICS<\/p>\n
Do you understand now, Vinh?<\/p>\n
VINH<\/p>\n
No! It’s weird! And it makes no sense to me!<\/p>\n
DR. PHYSICS<\/p>\n
Don’t worry, Vinh.<\/p>\n
He pats Vinh on the back.<\/p>\n
DR. PHYSICS<\/p>\n
Quantum physics makes no sense to scientists, either.<\/p>\n
BACKGROUND SINGERS (O.S.)<\/p>\n
It’s as easy as that!<\/i><\/p>\n
FADE OUT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter’s take on the “Twisted Children’s Shows” edition of Sketchwar: “Quantum Physics”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[220],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-twisted-childrens-shows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}