Quantum leap

Did you know that if you had a quantum leap in your annual salary and your original salary was £20,000, then your new salary would be £20,000.01, i.e. a one penny increase. A quantum is the smallest quantity possible, one penny in England, one cent in America, etc.

A quantum leap in your annual corn yield would be one grain of corn. A quantum leap in the annual production of nails would be one nail.
Strange how a phrase coined by the physics establishment relating to a vague hypothesis on the structure of the atom, has been taken up by the press and advertisers, and is now considered by the public to have the opposite meaning.

A major problem with physics is that when something is discovered or hypothesised, the public pick up only the most ‘sensational’ aspects of it. Einstein’s fame really came from the ‘time dilation’ hypothesis relating to his interpretation of the Michelson-Morley experiment. This got so embedded in the public mind that even the physicists started to believe it. This problem was made worse when the science fiction writers picked up on it, and it is now almost a constant in science fiction books, and is now even considered by many people to be ‘real’ physics.

Author – Brian Williams