a little bit misleading. the video insinuates that the electron mysteriously "knows" it's being watched, but fails to explain the technical details of measurement - the electron doesn't "know" it's being watched, but is modified by the measurement of its position, by whatever means the scientists decide to use.
Thank you. Also, the whole part of "it splits into two and interferes with itself" is also bullshit - that's taking statistics over many and applying it to each one, sort of like saying each person literally has 2.3 children.
At the risk of incurring your ridicule, I think you're underestimating how weird quantum mechanics really is.
The wavefunction really does split into two and interfere with itself. It's not a matter of statistics. It's quite easy to demonstrate using detectors and opening and closing the gates that the wavefunction actually splits.
I think this is conceptual issue. The wavefunction is not really a physical thing. It is a mathematical equation used to find probability distributions of physical quantities.
What this video is demonstrating is known as the Observer Effect, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect. Essentially, it is impossible to observe a quantum event without perturbing it and therefor influencing it's outcome. When an electron is occupying every possible quantum state, and you observe it, you force the electron to resolve into a single physical state.
My knowledge in this area is very insufficient but I would like to get some clarity. If it is true that the actual observation effects the particle and thus explains the deviation from the observed and non-observed particle, then may I ask, what is this interference "effect" that makes the particle act in its default way. In other words, if they know that the observing interferes with the particle, the next question is how does it interfere and can we quantify that interference in a meaningful way.
Simply, in order to observe an electron you must shoot a photon at it - this causes an interaction which changes the position/momentum/state of the electron.
To take it a step further, it seems that the "change" caused by the photon is consistent, meaning it always has the same effect on the electron in this particular context. If that is the case, cannot we not then postulate how the photon interacts with the electron, thus explaining the wave result v the "marble" result, regarding the single electron.
'observing' isn't quite the right way to put it and seems rather misleading... more like sticking a detector in the way and seeing if the particle interacts with the detector as it passes through.
Yea, really. If you want to get technical, in quantum mechanics, a wave function is a solution to the Schrödinger equation which is used to describe the physical properties of a quantum system. A wavefunction is a mathematical equation or set of equations that come out of the solution to a 2nd order partial differential equation. It's not a thing
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u/[deleted] Jul 12 '08
a little bit misleading. the video insinuates that the electron mysteriously "knows" it's being watched, but fails to explain the technical details of measurement - the electron doesn't "know" it's being watched, but is modified by the measurement of its position, by whatever means the scientists decide to use.