Puzzle Description:

I heard it again today. "... it's a quantum leap in our understanding about..." A quantum leap is the smallest possible change one can make. The term people really want to use is paradigm shift. That is a big change.

#1: Nancy (nbarsi) on Jan 5, 2012 [SPOILER]

It doesn't get better than this an interesting bit of knowledge and a great puzzle image to boot.

A quantum leap can be large; lasers are tuned to specific energy differences, which are by definition quantum leaps. Some lasers can pack a lot of energy! In general, I agree with you in the way the terminology is used, and the picture is a clever and funny way of introducing the topic!!

Thanks for the education,Brian and Gary,and i really like the puzzle too.:)

I had no idea.. ;)

Exactly, Nancy. Thanks, Brian! Gary, to my mind, a quantum leap takes place on a linear plane. A paradigm shift (in the way that many people use the term "quantum leap") generally implies a multi-dimensional displacement of energy (knowledge), relative to time.

There was an old TV show called "Quantum Leap" in which the hero was displaced into another person's body in another place place and time (and sometimes gender) to fix a bad situation. That may be the origin of the idea that a quantum leap is a giant shift.

Fun puzzle. Love the discussion. I had to look up that show lollipop. It still doesn't ring a bell. It was on during my baby raising years so I guess I didn't have much time for TV!

I think it comes from chemistry. Electrons are bound to molecules at quantum levels. The "quantum" is not necessarily tiny, but quantified - to move from one orbital to another requires a specific amount of energy to be absorbed or radiated. Learning is similar - you add a bunch of facts that are related to each other (at the same quantum level) until you fully understand that aspect of the knowledge, but then you start adding facts for a different aspect (at a different quantum level) and that seems hugely different.

How interesting! Cool puzzle.

Sometimes the smallest possible change is a huge one. Like when you color in that next pixel and the entire image just jumps out.

Oxford English Dictionary: Although changes of quantum state occur on the submicroscopic level, in popular discourse, the term "quantum leap" refers to a large increase.

Cool puzzle and great discussion

Wow

I think the popular phrase comes more from quantum tunneling. First it's here, then it's there, with nothing in between.

Cute puzzle.

iplizard I think i closest. I was taught that a quantum leap occurs when an electron changes from one orbit to another (yes perlwolf). The phenomenon is that, although the electron moves from a point A to a point B, it never occupies the space in between, and no time elapses during the movement.

I blame Scott Bakula

I think the idea of a quantum leap is a leap into the unknown and not understood; quantum leaps are not understood by most people, myself included.

Goto next topic

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