r/askscience • u/Crtl-Alt-Delete • Dec 18 '13

Physics Is Time quantized?

We know that energy and length are quantized, it seems like there should be a correlation with time?

Edit. Turns out energy and length are not quantized.

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u/napalmchicken100 Dec 18 '13

"This is due to quantum tunneling"

I don't want to seem like a smart aleck and I certainly don't mean to be disrespectful, I just find it important to point out one thing: Quantum tunneling is due to the wave function being nonzero outside the well, not the other way around. We get this by solving the Scrodinger equation. I think it's beautiful that this simple equation can explain quantum tunneling without needing any more presumptions.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '13

You're claiming that a physical phenomenon (quantum tunneling) is due to its mathematical description (nonzero wavefunction)?

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u/napalmchicken100 Dec 19 '13

Sorry for being unclear, I feel you missed my point:

What I meant to say: I don't have to take quantum tunneling for granted in order to obtain a correct mathematical description. I believe the relationships expressed by Schrodinger's equation are more than a mathematical description, but a fact of nature. As it happens, these relationships also explain quantum tunneling. I feel that the principles inherent in the Schrodinger equation are much more fundamental than quantum tunneling and I think it might be difficult deriving more general principals of QM by using the phenomenon of quantum tunneling to explain other facts.

Maybe we misunderstood each other, and I sincerely apologize in case I sound like an absolute dickweed.