A little help please

topic posted Tue, September 18, 2007 - 6:58 PM by  Paddy
So, I have a son who is now 8. He is dyslexic and brilliant! He is keenly aware that he is the only kid in his 3rd grade who doesn't read. Needless to say, thil awareness has done a number on his self esteem. We have chatted a few times over the summer about Einstein, the fact that he didn't set the world on fire in elementary school. that he is universally regarded as a very intelligent man. What I would greatly appreciate are stories, quotes etc that illustrate his path from marginal reader/scholar to the intellectual he became.

Our son is in a good place right now, but then school just started a couple weeks ago. If it like years in the past, he will need additional encouragement as the year goes on. I thank you in advance.
posted by:
Paddy
Portland
  • Re: A little help please

    Tue, February 5, 2008 - 7:27 PM
    Like in my post, arguably Einstein's most quoted quote is, "God doesn't play dice."

    This was primarily in response to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which states basically that the more accurately you measure the momentum of a particle, like an electron, the less accurate is your measurement of it's position, and vice versa.

    The primary reason for this, and I'm sure I'll get some of this wrong, is that in order to "see" an electron, which exists in a field of probabilities, you have to shine some sort of light on it. Well light is made up of photons, when a photon hits the electron it moves it (in the case of its position), and it alters its momentum. You can only focus on one measurement for accuracy, or you can get two approximations of its position and its momentum. But you can't get both measurements accurately.

    Einstein couldn't stand this idea! He was determined to prove it wrong. The best he was able to do was develop an experiment where two electrons were suspended in a vacumn and moved outward from the same point in opposite directions, then, at the precise same moment, the position of one electron was measured while the momentum of the other was measured. Then, as it can be seen, the positions and momentums of both electrons could be measured with a greater degree of accuracy, by applying what was known about one to the other.

    He was a smart guy, for a lackluster student. But, it must be remembered, this was a controlled experiment that only slightly reflects what happens at the subatomic level under normal conditions.

    "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein

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