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This is great
They must feel guilty or ashamed about their behaviour if they act differently when being observed.
code switching goofy ass electrons and atoms
Maybe particles are Catholic. Science can’t explain that.
The only time Baptist particles don’t drink is when they are being observed by another Baptist particle or other Baptist particles.
lol this is the most creative use of this meme I have seen so far
This is one of the best memes I’ve ever seen in my life. It reminds me of the quantum race in Futurama, and the professor says “no fair, they looked at it” (maybe not exact words but the sentiment is there)
https://youtu.be/ia4YrCShFrQ?si=w5OYNEaNRpG8QvMZ for reference
This exactly! Thank you for posting ahahah
Last I read about this was years and years ago, and the claim at the time from the source I learned about it from was that the cause of this behavior is unknown. Is it known now?
Its source is known. Unfortunately, it requires a different way of looking at everything. (It’s all waves, even if it looks like a particle most of the time). Wrapping this up as simple pop science, that can be digested by most laymen, is difficult.
What we don’t actually know is why everything is made of waves. We know the rules it follows, but not the underlying cause. Figuring that would would likely require an understanding of quantum relativity, something we only have a very weak handle on.
I hate that I understand all the layers of this one except the duality one.
Light (in fact everything) is a wave, with some traditional particle properties added in. It’s relatively easy to wrap your head around the weirdness from that point of view. It’s almost impossible to make sense of it from a “particle with wave properties” view.
It’s also worth noting that it is not observation, but measurement that matters. All observation is measurement but not all measurements are observations.
Basically, to measure something, you need to hit it with something else. Using a particle analogy (since the wave version is FAR less intuitive), imagine a pool ball, rolling down a table. You can only detect balls hitting the cushions. To measure where it is, in between, you need to roll additional balls across the table. In traditional physics, these balls can be thrown as lightly as you like, as accurately as you like. Unfortunately, the wave nature of the system imposes lower limits on this. When you throw a ball, it changes the ball it hits. To gain information, you end up damaging or destroying the system you are measuring.
In quantum mechanical terms, the wave function is collapsed. In fact, it’s combined with the new particles you used to measure things.
In the original post. When you’re not looking, the wave of the photon passes through both spits, it then interferes with itself. Only when it reaches the detector is it collapsed (by interacting with the atoms of the detector). When you try and measure which slit it went through, you introduce a new wave. This changes the shape of the original, and makes it appear like a particle.
This is quite a fun way of making yourself think in terms of waves. https://www.andreinc.net/2024/02/06/the-sinusoidal-tetris
