Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Chan-Seung Lee]

[lotus]

"It" is the idea of quantum physics and the strange consequences of its theories.


--lotus
_________________
War does not make one great --Yoda

[Mary W. Ng]

Quote:
At the quantum level nothing of the material world is left intact. It is strange enough to hold up your hand and realize that it is actually, at a deeper level, invisible vibrations taking place in a void. Even at the atomic level all objects are revealed as 99.9999 percent empty space. On its own scale, the distance between a whirling electron and the nucleus it revolves around is wider than the distance between the earth and the sun.

In the quotation, there are 3 bold letters 'it's. What does each 'it' mean?

Chan-Seung Lee,

You ask very good questions, many of them thought-provoking.

The first it is the impersonal it, used to introduce a sentence when the true subject is long. The true subject is the infinitive phrase beginning with to. My grammar e-book Focus on Grammar: Subject-Verb Agreement has two sections on the impersonal it.

The second it. refers to the noun phrase your hand.

The antecedent of its is not clear; its probably refers to quantum level.

I hope this helps.
_________________
Mary W. Ng
Helping students learn grammar
http:www.aimpublishing.com

[lotus]

"It" is looking at it from an atomic and subatomic scale.

At the quantum level nothing of the material world is left intact. It is strange enough to hold up your hand and realize that (the subatomic structure) is actually, at a deeper level, invisible vibrations taking place in a void. Even at the atomic level all objects are revealed as 99.9999 percent empty space. On (the atom's) own scale, the distance between a whirling electron and the nucleus it revolves around is wider than the distance between the earth and the sun.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/fabric-of-cosmos.html#fabric-quantum


--lotus
_________________
War does not make one great --Yoda

[Mary W. Ng]

[lotus]

Read my first post. The passage is correct in the proper context. At the subatomic level, the vibrations are actually from the harmonic strings or superstrings of the string theory which attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and relativity. These are even smaller than the vast array of subatomic particles such as muons and mesons. Space itself is composed of harmonic strings (according to the theory). At the atomic level (larger scale), it speaks of the vast distances between the nuclei and electrons. They are pointing out that matter itself is essentially made out of empty space. The first sentence speaks of the quantum level as a microscopic viewpoint of matter, not as an actual quantifiable level. The quanta is the actual discrete quantity of energy in quantum mechanics.

Sometimes grammar cannot be easily assessed amid technical inferences. Many textbooks are lacking in this area.


--lotus
_________________
War does not make one great --Yoda