The Ammonia Flip, Quantum Tunneling and Oscillations
[caption id="attachment_25040" align="alignleft" width="400"] Image U..C. Davis[/caption]Unexplained by classical mechanics, the ammonia flip occurs when an ammonia molecule flips like an umbrella... Quantum mechanics explains how some phenomena occur which are not part of everyday experience. The ammonia molecule can flip when ordinary logic suggests it should not be able to do so. When most people think of ammonia, they think of a household cleaner. Actually, ammonia is a gas. The household cleaner is a dilute solution of that gas in water. Chemists would call that ammonium hydroxide. Ammonia has the very simple chemical formula, NH3. That's the formula; but what's its structure? How would you draw it? Would you draw it like an airplane propeller with the nitrogen being the hub and the tips of the three blades the…