It can’t have escaped your attention that Marc Marquez has been all over the place lately. Every weekend, he starts off looking dominant then either wins or crashes for no apparent reason. Quantum Physics is the study of sub-atomic particles. Technically, only Dani Pedrosa is subatomic, but with Danilo Petrucci’s departure, most of the MotoGP riders are small enough for quantum effects to dominate. Can Einstein and pals explain #93’s strange, up and down results? Let’s observe the possible spins on this.
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
This tells us that the more accurately we measure a particle’s momentum, the less we can tell about its position.
We know Marc’s momentum in great detail: he’s by far the best rider and he’s totally going to win the championship. This means that we can’t know his finishing position with any degree of accuracy at all. Which explains why we’re always so surprised when he goes gravel surfing.
Quantum Entanglement
This is the phenomenon where a pair of particles become entangled in opposite but unknown states. Measuring the state of one of these particles forces its entangled partner into the opposite state, however far apart they are. Einstein called this “A spooky action at distance”.
It may be that Marc Marquez has become quantum entangled with walking disaster zone Miguel Oliveira, who is currently situated in Portugal recovering from his latest “injured through no fault of his own” experiment.
Under the theory of Quantum Entanglement, if Miguel Oliveira was observed to be in the state of, say, Having tripped over a black cat, headbutted a ladder on the way down and broken his collarbone, then Marc Marquez would be forced into the state of Just won a MotoGP race. On the other hand, if Oliveira was observed to be Having a romantic, candle-lit dinner with his sister, Marc would be forced into the quantum state of Just lobbed the bike at the scenery for no apparent reason.
Quantum Superposition, a.k.a. Schrödinger’s Cat
This is the phenomenon where a particle exists in a Superposition of more than one state at the same time. Only when the particle is observed does it take one of the available states. Schrödinger gave the example of a cat in a box being both dead or alive, but not existing in either of these states until you open the box and use the cat to make Kung Pao “Chicken”.
Marc may exist in a quantum superposition of two states: Winning and Crashing. By observing the race, we the viewers are ourselves forcing Marc into one of these two quantum states. Our own observations force #93 into either standing on the top step or tumbling through the kitty litter. The only way for him to solve this would be to race in MotoE, since literally nobody has ever observed that.
Wave-Particle Duality
This is where a particle acts as either a wave or a particle, or both.
Could it be that Marc Marquez is acting like a wave as he is smoothly flowing around and around the circuit at almost the same speed as light travels inside David Muñoz’s skull, but when Marc turns into a particle he suddenly feels an irresistible attraction to the particles of gravel that surround him?
Conclusion
Scientists are still debating how to interpret the effects of Quantum Physics on the real world. Has Marc Marquez provided proof of any of these odd, subatomic effects? The answer has to be yes and no, and both at the same time. And neither.
