A noggin teaser

[BANGKOK RED]

When light is passed through two slits, the image projected is not just two lines of light. This is because light works in waves and the waves interfere with each other to produce more than one stream of light. In the same way that bow waves from a boat cross over each other.

For whatever reason some jobsworth decided to see what would happen if he passed a single light particle (a photon) through one of those slits. A single photon would (should) not produce a wave and would project a single line image on the background, kind of like spraying paint through a stencil. It seems though that quantum mechanics doesn't want to work like that and the multiple projections caused by wave interference still occur.

Physicists have come up with the idea that for this to happen, the single photon must pass through both slits and therefore be in more than one place at a time. Because this is believed to be impossible, it has also been suggested that it must be the same particle, only it is existing in an alternative dimension. This suggests that each time a light particle (photon) is emitted, a whole new universe is created. Makes sense, don't it? (ha)

Baffling, innit....... but there's more.

Some smart Alex decided that he would set up some kit to watch these photons as they split, but nothing happened. By nothing, what they mean is that just a single image is projected onto the background instead of the multiple images that are caused by wave interference.

In short. It only happens when we aren't watching.

[König]

theres a whole theory on Observer Theory which states that every particle is in a whole different variety of states at one time, and only when someone observes the particle that it settles on one state, so if there is no one looking at a chair, there is no way to tell that the chair is even there, likewise when you leave your room and close the door you have no idea what is actually going on in your room as the particles are in an infinite amount of states. Schrodinger explained it a lot better with his theoretical cat experiment which infers that when a cat is in a closed box with a radioactive substance that decays at random, no one can know whether that cat is alive or dead until they open the box, thus making the cat both dead AND alive at the same time, only when someone observes the cat does it settle on one state.

With the light, its treated as either a stream of photons or as a wave depending on what scientists want it for! but electron also diffract like waves, despite being solid particles.

[leefer]

You have teased my noggin into submission Red

I have read that four times....and i am none the wiser

[Barry Scott]

[jayohaitchenn]

This book explains it well:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quantum-Theory-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0192802526

It is available on all good torrent sites too, if that's your thing. I have quite a few of them. The one about particle physics is also pretty good.

[Red Frog]

"The particle interferes with itself" tells me all I need to know. 

[Barry Scott]

This book explains it well:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quantum-Theory-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0192802526

It is available on all good torrent sites too, if that's your thing. I have quite a few of them. The one about particle physics is also pretty good.

Thanks for that. I remember you mentioning them before and forgot to look them up. I have always wanted to learn more about sciencey type stuff. I went on Amazon browsing through the "very short" series and liked loads of them. I then found a Torrent for 85 of them. That's totally fucking Mexico.

[jayohaitchenn]

Linkage to the torrent please