Team Tokuyama - 1

How You See
National Institute of Technology, Tokuyama College
A: Hi. I’m Saya Yamamoto.
B: I’m Satsuki Fukunaga.
C: I’m Mao Miura. Hello.
ABC: We are from Tokuyama College.
A: We, KOSEN students, need to face physics every day to be great engineers no matter
how much we are interested in other subjects.
B: I like physics but I’m not very good at it.
C: Actually, physics is everywhere in our lives and we have no choice but to beinterested in it.
A: As KOSEN students, we have been learning classical physics. But what aboutquantum physics? We have heard about it but don’t learn it so much at school.
B: Today, we are going to approach this difficult topic. What is quantum physics?
What is the difference between classical physics and quantum physics? What can we
do with quantum physics?
C: I'm sure you've heard at least one of the following words: quantum physics, quantum
mechanics, and quantum computer.
A: Before getting into our main topic, do you know anything about quantum?
B: Let us explain a little about quantum first.
C: In general, a quantum is a very small unit of matter or energy. We used to thinkatoms, neutrons, and protons were the smallest, but we have learned they are madeof even smaller stuff.
A: A quantum is the smallest unit that makes matter or energy. Simply saying, classicalphysics explains the rules of what we can see, and quantum physics explains therules of what we cannot see. It is not very accurate but you could roughly say that.
B: We have a physics teacher named Mr. Nakamura. He is young but very strict. Many
students cannot pass his exams.
C: One day in class, Mr. Nakamura suddenly said, “All substances in this world exist in
the two states: particles and waves.” We didn’t understand what he was saying atfirst.
A: He continued, “OK. Here: this is a pen. If you see or observe this pen, it exists as aparticle. However, if you don’t see or observe it, it exists as a wave. This concept iscalled wave-particle duality and is the very basic idea of quantum physics.”
B: We couldn’t understand or even believe what he was saying. But after his class, weread books about this physics at the school library, searched for quantum physics onthe Internet, watched a lot of YouTube videos, and finally we now understand a littleabout quantum physics.
C: Let us introduce an experiment. Some people say that it is the most beautiful
experiment in the world. It is the Double-Slit Experiment. Please look at this photo.
A: Imagine having a device that sprays sand. What do you think will be left on theTeam Tokuyama - 2screen on the other side of the cardboard when you spray this sand onto a cardboard
with two slits?
B: The actual experiment sprays elementary particles such as electrons and photons
instead of sand. As a result, such traces remain when this experiment is done whileobserving.
C: The results are different depending on how people are observing the experiment.
A: From this experiment, it is known that every particle has a wave function.
B: I am sure that many of you still don’t get what we are talking about and even think it
has nothing to do with your life.
C: Actually, the theory of quantum is everywhere in our life and it is no exaggeration tosay that we cannot live without it.
A: The theory is fundamental to semiconductors used in computers, and DVDs, lasers,digital cameras, smartphones, etc. cannot exist without it.
B: In addition, there are a lot of advanced technologies based on quantum mechanics
such as "quantum computers" and "superconducting motors" used for the linear
Shinkansen.
C: Recently, these types of technologies have been developing rapidly and will beentering our daily lives even more in the future.
A: Here is something interesting. Waves go through a wall just as sound goes through awall because sound is a kind of wave. And all the substances exist in the two states:
particles and waves. This means that, theoretically, something, some matter, could
possibly travel through a wall.
B: That could mean that even a person could go through the wall—but we’re not sure
how, yet.
C: I hope you understood a little about quantum physics. Now, we’d like to see thisphysics from a little different point of view.
A: It may be only our imagination. But I hope our imagination makes a difference.
B: As we talked about in the Double Slit Experiment, whether you observe things
around you makes a difference in the behavior of things. Observing is not just about
seeing, it is about how you are aware of the things around you, which can change thereaction of things and the events that occur.
C: Have you ever experienced something like this? Good things happen if you think goodthings, and bad things happen if you think bad things. This is commonly referred toas the law of attraction, and Michael J Losier's book shows various examples.
A: For example, one day when I forgot my parasol, I thought, "I don't want it to rain,"and it rained. Another example is if I go to bed one night thinking about meeting myfavorite boy, I will meet that boy the next morning.
B: Of course, there is no certainty that this law is related to quantum mechanics, but if
human consciousness and thoughts influence things around us, it is hard to say thatthey have nothing to do with them.
C: Wouldn't it be so good if humans were better aware of and observed things aroundthem so that bad things wouldn't happen and only good things would happen? Yes,
this sounds like fantasy, but we are just saying it might be possible.
A: Please look at these pictures. These are pictures of the golden ratio. Even if humans
do not observe it, nature will look beautiful like this.

Team Tokuyama - 3

B: We humans may be seeing things in a wrong way. Many bad things are happening in
the world every day.
C: It may not be possible to see everything in the right way, but it should be possible tosee some in the right way. If we can see things in the right way, they may look betterand more beautiful as they originally are and only good things may happen.
A: This may also be true for the people around us. How you see them may change theirbehavior.
B: Yes, that's all about how you see things. It really makes a big difference in this world.
C: We hope that each of us will have a better way of thinking and a better way ofobserving things and even people around us so that the world will be a better world.
Thank you for listening.