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From a decoherence point of view, fields are more fundamental as they give rise to particle-like behavior from the wave behavior if interactions with the environment are strong. In the end though, quantum mechanics only describes correlations between macroscopic changes in detectors (or other materials), so whatever kind of ontology you want to take in the ...

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Simply because it is usually taught from historical, heuristic and pragmatic point of view, rarely from axiomatic point of view (e.g. Wightman axioms, as mentioned in a comment by ACuriousMind). This is because it is taught to be useful, as most QFT calculations boil down to scattering and decay amplitudes, and as Sean Carroll said: Heuristic QFT, on ...

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Historically, one motivating experiment for kinetic energy was dropping balls into clay and noting the relation between impact speed $v$ and the impact depth $d$: $$v^2 \propto d$$ I suspect this experiment could be modified to show the role that mass plays and obtain $d\propto mv^2$. A different experiment would be to launch a cart using some type of ...

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Here's an experiment with multiple parameters that simulates meteor impacts. Bonus if your daughter is interested in astronomy and space. Fill a box or basin with sand and smooth the surface. Then drop rocks onto the sand and measure the diameter or depth of the resulting crater (diameter is probably easier). You can vary the mass (different sized rocks) ...

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Try Schaum's Outlines: Quantum Mechanics, ISBN 0-07-054018-7. You'll see the math there, but you'll need to do the deep background studies on all the math from Chapter 2.

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This is rather commment to the Steven Mathey's answer, but is too long to put it in the comment section. Here is the photo of cold bulb: After switch on, as we supposed, the filament is not visible, but whole bulb becomes hot: But generally idea to show bulb is interesting and for sure I will present it. Here is the photo with two bulbs. The bulb on ...

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Ah, this is a classic and rather tragic issue in most statistical-mechanics books. I won't talk about superconductivity, but the general case of magnetic systems. The problem is thermodynamics as it is, was formulated for fluid systems for which pressure and volume were observables and could be manipulated. In that case, say I calculated the partition ...

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Maybe you can show them a light bulb. When it is switched off I will look like any other object under the thermographic camera. Then you can switch it on (the camera becomes useless, switch it off) and tell them that the radiation coming from the filament of the bulb has changed because of the change in temperature. That's why we can see it. Finally you ...

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Both ways are possible. Since you seem to be a mathematician, let me try an analogy from mathematics. Say that you are accomplished in commutative algebra. Now, you want to study algebraic geometry. Sure, you can start with sheaves of local rings and cohomology of schemes, instead of "at the bottom" with classical algebraic varieties defined by polynomial ...

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This very much depends on what you want to do in the area of quantum theory. If you want to solve specific mathematical problems and to have only a very rough conception of why you are doing what you are doing, then you can in principle omit classical mechanics. But if you want to have a well-rounded knowledge of the subject, you should know some basics of ...

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But which measurements are allowed in such a toy model? The basic assumption should be that oscillations in time are so quick that only averages over time can be measured. Because the speed of light is so big, measuring at different positions in space should be allowed nevertheless. but can the average Poynting vector be measured as well? Why not? ...

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Light IS the toy model for quantum mechanics. Maybe the technically most simple quantum mechanical experiment I know is the double slit experiment with light and it's extremely simple to replicate, even with household means (we can talk about potential experimental setups in an independent question). As for Dr. Neumaier's very skewed perspective about ...

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