  Experimenting with metastability in recording devices leads us to wonder
about an interface between equations of motion and the stillness of
experimental records. Here we delineate an interface between wave functions as
language to describe motion and Turing tapes as language to describe
experimental records. After extending quantum formalism to make this interface
explicit, we report on constraints and freedoms in choosing quantum-mechanical
equations to model experiments with devices. We prove that choosing equations
of wave functions and operators to achieve a fit between calculated
probabilities and experimental records requires reaching beyond both logic and
the experimental records. Although informed by experience, a "reach beyond" can
fairly be called a guess.
  Recognizing that particles as features of wave functions depend on guesswork,
we introduce their use not as objects of physical investigation but as elements
of thought in quantum-mechanical models of devices. We make informed guesses to
offer a quantum-mechanical model of a 1-bit recording device in a metastable
condition. Probabilities calculated from the model fit an experimental record
of an oscillation in a time-varying probability, showing a
temperature-independent role for Planck's constant in what heretofore was
viewed as a "classical" electronic device.
