Re: A not-so-simple concept

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 45, No. 1, January February 2003, Page 10 Letters
By: H. Ewart Woolley, MD

In his editorial Dr J.A. Wilson asks “What is the smallest increment of time and what measurable characteristics determine the physical nature of the smallest increment?”

In other words “Is there a period of time so short that it cannot be subdivided?” (BCMJ 2002;44[9]:460).

In 1900 Max Planck, whilst studying black body radiation, related time to energy with energy increasing as the wavelength shortened. At Planck Time (5.39 x 10-44 seconds) the energy rises and since energy and mass (Planck Mass 2.177 x 10-8) are interrelated the mass at any shorter time would generate a mini black hole which would be subject to Hawking radiation and which would also be immeasurable due to the Hiesinger Uncertainty Principle.

The practical effect of Planck’s work was that it laid the foundations for the quantum theory and quantum mechanics will have an extremely important place in the new nanotechnology.

I treasure the graffiti scrawled on the washroom wall in Oxford University. It read “Hiesinger was or wasn’t here; that’s for certain.”

—H. Ewart Woolley, MD
Vancouver

H. Ewart Woolley, MD. Re: A not-so-simple concept. BCMJ, Vol. 45, No. 1, January, February, 2003, Page(s) 10 - Letters.


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Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

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