John Wheeler's Essay 'How Come The Quantum'

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Sample Concept Paper (not a rhet/comp concept, though)

For John Wheeler, defining the term “quantum” in his essay “How Come the Quantum” (Best 41-43) seems the least of his worries. It’s a “thing,” he says, “a bundle of energy, an indivisible unit that can be sliced no more” as Max Planck’s observations 100 years ago indicate (41). Wheeler’s words ‘thing,’ ‘bundle,’ and ‘sliced’ are interesting: they seem at once colloquial and correct for the usage Wheeler makes of them. Quanta sound friendly, everyday. The just-folks tone continues as he observes that, thanks to quanta, “In the small-scale world, everything is lumpy” (41). He moves his readers forward smoothly (no lumps) to the next topic, what existence of quanta reveals about the …show more content…

Near the end of the “technical part” of his essay, he parenthetically defines the term ‘photon’ when he discusses delayed choice so that the reader may move steadily ahead (42), but he also almost lyrically describes early on the “lumpy” small-scale world that is quantum physics: “… When events are examined closely enough, uncertainty prevails; cause and effect become disconnected. Change occurs in little explosions in which matter is created and destroyed, in which chance guides what happens …” before alluding to particles and waves as scientists use these terms to describe phenomena (41). The observation that “chance guides what happens” in this world helps the reader understand Einstein’s reservations about Bohr’s and Feynman’s explanations because, as most people know, Einstein held that God does not “play dice” with us or our world (41-42). Evidently Einstein’s God accompanied him into the laboratory, whereas Wheeler’s God remains outside in the realm of metaphysics.

So, from the rhetorician’s perspective, it is easy to conclude that John Wheeler does an excellent job of helping his readers comprehend how the quantum may be defined. He provides examples, a parenthetical definition, an historical discussion, and a clear description of the principle of operation that he sees underlying the term. He is a credible spokesman for quantum physics, and one who can speak to readers who, like me, are much more comfortable with examples and other definitional strategies than strictly technical discussions that only insider-type scientists can

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