A Ton of Crap (77 page)

THE COPENHAGEN INTERPRETATION

The Nature of Collapse
Another part of the Copenhagen interpretation is the collapsing of wavelengths. Since the wave function exists before any observation, the wavelength has to collapse in order for the observation to be made. If the momentum of a particle is measured, the particle’s wave function changes suddenly from a wave comprised of many momenta, to the wave with only one momentum that is being measured. What you observe is the collapsing of the wavelength.

VIETNAMESE

Speech Patterns
When speaking in Vietnamese, pitch, or the way words and phrases are spoken, affects the meaning. This means that Vietnamese is what is known as a tone language. There are seven types of pitch: mid-level, low, high rising, low falling, rising after a dip, low broken, and high broken. When a pitch is broken, that means it is glottalized. The language also makes use of reduplication, in which a portion of a word or the entire word itself is actually repeated. This indicates plurality, intensity, and extension, and plants, fruits, birds, and insects are often reduplicated.

WORLD WAR I

The Treaty of Versailles
The Great War ended in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was made by the British prime minister, the French prime minister, and President Woodrow Wilson. As a result of the treaty, much of the land Germany had acquired over the war was given back, the German army and navy were dramatically cut down in size, Germany would not be allowed to have an air force, Germany was forced to pay £6,600 million to compensate for damages, and the country had to take complete blame for the war. The League of Nations was also created in order to prevent any further conflicts.

MYSTERY

Louise Penny
The detective novel did not die when the Golden Age of Detective Fiction ended. Today, there are still great mystery writers who uphold the traditional detective stories. Louise Penny’s first book,
Still Life
, came out in 2005 to rave reviews, winning several awards, including the Dagger Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, and the Barry Award. Her work follows Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of Quebec’s homicide department. Though set in Quebec, many elements of the English mystery novels are present. Penny currently has six books out, and she has won the Agatha Award for best mystery novel of the year four consecutive times.

LOGIC

Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens, and Hypothetical Syllogism
Modus ponens is a very straightforward law. If you have (
X
−>
Y
) and you also have
X
, then you are allowed to have
Y
. This is essentially rule number six, −> Elimination. Modus tollens is the reverse of modus ponens. It states if you have (
X
−>
Y
) and you also have ~
Y
, then you are allowed to have ~
X
. Essentially, this means that if
Y
is false,
X
cannot be true. Hypothetical syllogism states if there is (
X
−>
Y
) and you also have (
Y
−>
Z
), then you can have (
X
−>
Z
).

THE COPENHAGEN INTERPRETATION

Criticism
The most famous attempt at debunking quantum mechanics and the most well-known challenge to the Copenhagen interpretation was the Einstein-
Podolsky-Rosen proposition. In 1935, Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen formulated an experiment to prove that quantum mechanics was incomplete. Their proposition claimed that, assuming that nothing can move faster than the speed of light, it is impossible for something to transport from one point to another in no time. This requires communication that is faster than light, which Einstein’s general theory of relativity proved did not exist.

VIETNAMESE

Useful Vietnamese Phrases
Here are some helpful phrases to use when you are traveling in Vietnam:

Hello.
Chào anh
(to a man).
Chào chi.
(to a woman).

Good morning.
Chào buổi sang.

Good afternoon.
Xin chào.

Good evening.
Chào buổi tối.

Good night.
Chúc ngủ ngon.

Excuse me.
Xin lỗi.

Thank you.
Cảm o’n ông
(to a man).
Cảm o’n bà
(to a woman).

Where’s the toilet?
Cầu tiêu ở
đâu?

How much is this?
Cái này giá bao nhiêu?

Goodbye.
Chào anh
(to a man).
Chào chi.
(to a woman).

1. What was the first significant battle fought that proved that the war would not be short and introduced trench warfare?
   

   1. The Battle of Cambrai
      
   2. The Battle of Tannenburg
      
   3. The First Battle at Versailles
      
   4. The First Battle at the Marne
      

2. Which of the following was a result of the Treaty of Versailles?
   

   1. Much of the land Germany had acquired over the war was given back.
      
   2. Germany would not be allowed to have an air force.
      
   3. Germany was forced to pay £6,600 million to compensate for damages.
      
   4. All of the above.
      

3. What mystery writer was not a part of the Detection Club?
   

   1. Dorothy Sayers
      
   2. Louise Penny
      
   3. Agatha Christie
      
   4. G. K. Chesterton
      

4. “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” published in 1841, is considered the very first mystery and was written by:
   

   1. Edgar Allan Poe
      
   2. Dorothy Sayers
      
   3. C. Auguste Dupin
      
   4. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
      

5. Which of the following states the second rule of logic?
   

   1. If you have
      A
      , then you are allowed to have
      A
      
   2. If you have
      A
      , you can write (
      A
      v
      B
      ) no matter what
      
   3. If you presume
      A
      and then obtain
      B
      , you can write (
      A
      −>
      B
      )
      
   4. If you have (
      A
      v
      B
      ) and (
      A
      −>
      C
      ) and (
      Y
       −> 
      C
      ), then you can have
      C
      

6. Which of the following is a
   negation of the term:
   A
   ^
   B
   .
   

   1. ~
      A
      v
      B
      
   2. ~(
      A
      ^
      B
      ).
      
   3. ~(
      A
      v
      B
      )
      
   4. A
      ^ ~
      B
      

7. The Copenhagen interpretation contradicts:
   

   1. Schrödinger’s cat
      
   2. Collapsing of wavelengths
      
   3. Quantum mechanics
      
   4. Many-worlds theory
      

8. The most well known challenge to the Copenhagen interpretation is:
   

   1. The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen proposition
      
   2. Quantum suicide
      
   3. Schrödinger’s cat
      
   4. The many-worlds theory
      

9. In Vietnamese, mid-level, low, high rising, low falling, rising after a dip, low broken, and high broken are all examples of:
   

   1. Different intensities
      
   2. Different types of plurality
      
   3. Different types of pitch
      
   4. Different types of reduplication
      

10. The Roman-based script of the Vietnamese language that is still used today is called:
    

    1. Xin chào
       
    2. quốc ngũ
       
    3. Chào anh
       
    4. Chào ch
       i.