Last week we talked about the double slit experiment, and how quantum particles can sometimes act like a particle or wave.
https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/images/quantum_double_slit_photon.jpg
today we'll talk about this phenomenon in full.
Quantum Superpositioning
Basically, what this means is the ability of particles to exist in multiple states at the same time. Remember Shroedinger's cat?
"yes, but i don't remember it at the same time - please explain."
haha, nice joke. Okay Erwin shroedinger tried to explain quantum superpositioning with a thought experiment about a bomb, a box and a cat. It goes thus
"A cat is put in a box with a bomb that has a 50% probability of exploding, in the classical world - the cat is either alive or dead regardless of whether the box is opened or not. but in the quantum world - the cat is superpositioned between the two possible states, dead or alive. And if the box is never opened the cat is not truly dead neither is it truly alive. Until the box is opened and the cat observed (wave function collapse) it's fate isn't truly decided"
which means a particle such as light can exist in a superpositioned state as both wave and particle until it's wave function collapses
"what causes this wave function collapse?"
observer's effect, or interaction with another quantum system.
""what is observer's effect?"
it's a theory that i personally don't like, it implies that quantum systems behave differently under observation. but that also implies quantum particles are sentient and don't like being watched like girls in the shower.
"lol, but really how can things exist in all possible states?"
that's the quantum world for you, it's completely probabilistic. Remember heisenberg's uncertainty principle?
"yeah, i do."the position and momentum of a particle cannot be known with absolute certainty, only one can be known at a time" we were taught in high school at the time i didn't know what it had to do with anything "
it has a lot to do with everything in quantum physics.
"like?"
you were probably taught in school that electrons orbit the atomic nucleus, right?
"yeah"
you were lied to, electrons don't orbit atoms - that would imply that the laws of gravity held at the atomic scale. instead electrons are superpositioned around the atomic nucleus.
"meaning?"
the electron exists at all possible points in a 3d space around the nucleus.
"doesn't that increase the mass of the atoms if there are so many electrons? "
no it doesn't - because it's really just only one electron, quantum entanglement even makes things crazier - when two quantum systems interact they become "entangled" such that it appears as if they share information with each other. for example if the "spin" of one of the entangled particles is measured - then the spin of the other particle would be the opposite of the first and you can repeat this a billion times but that would be the case 99.99% of the time. 0.01% accounts for human error.
"so the particles are talking to each other?"
yup, it appears that way - einstein called it spooky action at a distance and theorized that the particles had already agreed on a set of "spins" they would take on. and that there was no information transfer taking place. John bell proved him wrong and discovered something new, even if you put a 99 billion parsec wide galaxy in between the two particles. they'll still transfer information instantaneoulsy.
"i thought information couldn't move faster than the speed of light?"
apparently that law doesn't hold in quantum physics.
Bye for now.
tags: Sirwere, coolUsername, plaetton, seun, ishilove, lalasticla, themonk
if you want to follow the show, please let me know and i'll tag you each time a new episode is out
This writing is copyrighted. It was a flask filled with poisonous gas not a bomb which later shattered d flask and releases d poison dat later kills the cat.... but nice one though, your point was made |
Science/Technology › Re: Scientific Proof That Mermaid Does Not Exist by Lloydkings: 9:15pm On Sep 28, 2017
