Heisenberg Joke

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1

Hi All,

Could someone (preferably a physicist) explain to me why the following joke is so funny? I’ve heard it a number of times and still don’t get it. All I know is that it has something to do with Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.

Mr. Heisenberg is driving on the freeway and a police officer stops him for speeding. The officer walks up to Heisenberg’s car and asks him, “Sir, do you know how fast you were going?” Mr. Heisenberg says “Officer, I have no idea how fast I was going, but I know exactly where I am.”

Am I the only one addled by this “joke”?

2

Try “uncertainty principle” on wiki.

3

To quote Heisenberg himself “The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa.”

Therefore, if you the location of an object, you don’t know it’s momentum (or speed, if you loosen up the physics terminology), and vice versa."

Does this clarify?

(and personally, I don’t think this joke is that funny, but I’m not the physics type).

4

I’m not a physicist myself, but that joke was hilarious! :laughing: