Quantum Physics - This will blow your mind

That does a really good job of explaining it actually.

This principle was recenlty used to create quantum clones of a photon. Of course each clone is slighly different because of the uncertainty principle so your end result is like the two different captain kirks after the teleportation accident in that episode of Star Trek.

Blisterman wrote:

I don't understand it? How can observing it, cause it to not create the interference pattern?

Well.. untill it is observed it is pure potential and goes though both slots and neither slots all at the same time.

The act of observing actualises an event and it will go through one or the other slot.

This principle can also be applied to concept of quantum computers where the state of the computer can be both a 1 and 0 at the same time.

Blisterman wrote:

I think that's the point. It doesn't make much sense based on the way we commonly understand things. Non the less, it happens.

Turns out we haven't got it all figured out after all... who'd a thunk?

lostexpectation wrote:

how does it change from an electron to potential electron?

It can exist as a particle or a wave.

Think of it this way, tie a string to a ball and spin around really fast. If you spin it fast enough it will look like a circle. This is it in wave form. If it was an electron it would exist at every point in that circle. However once you try to determine its location it may or may not be in the spot you observe at a given time.

Or something like that.

I have some to the conclusion that quantum physics is too complicated to bother trying to understand.

Wertz wrote:

I need a drink.

Oh how I long for a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving Quantum Mechanics. - Asimov

I prefered schroedinger's cat analogy.

plazzTT wrote:

So this weirdness happens for small things like electrons, but not for big things like marbles.

Is there some kind of threshold size, below which this weirdness happens?

I read "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat", but I can't remember if it mentioned this or not.

Yeah.. well not a threshold per se, a little more gradual than that. It's to do with particle wave duality. All particles act like a wave, it just doesn't become really apparent until you get to really small masses. The wavelength of a particle is given by the de-broglie wavelength L=h/mv. Where h is plancks constant (a really really really small number), m is mass and v is velocity. So you can see from that, if m is big (say for a football), L is gonna be really small. But the smaller m becomes the bigger the wavelength and the more its behaviour can be described by a wave.

And when you try to describe a particle that's acting like a wave (is a wave?), that's when the "weirdness" comes in, or as we like to call it: the Uncertainty Principal*.


*A wave doesn't have a definite position so where is the particle? Just measure it. Ok now it's got a definite position but now how fast is it going? We don't know. Why? Cos the "wave" is so short now there aren't enough oscillations to measure its speed accurately. Dammit!

ApeXaviour wrote:

*A wave doesn't have a definite position so where is the particle? Just measure it. Ok now it's got a definite position but now how fast is it going? We don't know. Why? Cos the "wave" is so short now there aren't enough oscillations to measure its speed accurately. Dammit!

*sniff*
Is that you mr. Heisenberg?

funky penguin wrote:

It's like putting too much air in a balloon!

sweet...:)

yeah that is exactly what i was wondering, what is this doing in the after hours forum? I came in here looking to catch up on the best kebab shop in dublin thread only to see this sitting here, interesting, but out of place.

Quantum physics? Isn't that what sent Dr. Sam Beckett solving peoples problems at different points in time with the help of his trusty sidekick, Al the hologram?

It is very interesting but not that hard to fathom, i don't see what all the ruckus is about. If they ever manage to crack its use in engineering and mechanics, computers will have powers that at the moment only resides in science fiction, this is due to the wavelike property of particles, being all possibly states simultaneously. Which means that a 4-bit electronic computer would be a 32-bit Quantum computer (i.e. 2^4) as each bit would simultaneously be a 1 and a 0. Do the maths for modern day 64-bit computers.

I think the animation only goes to over simplify the situation, saying things like "as if the particle knew it was being watched". Applying sentience to a particle will only confuse people. My favourite example is the photon sent down a path that splits in 2, each path with equal importance. Which path does the photon take. The answer, it takes both, even though it is impossible for a photon to split by itself, it appears in two places. The greatest thing about quantum physics for me is that it managed to stump einstein.

Now whos up for discussing tachyons in relation to quantum mechanics, I hear this thread ends well if we do

fúck science, load of shít.

Heh.Thats cool.

OP, can you tell us who or what that dude/series is called? I'm intrested.

FuzzyLogic wrote:

Nope, you see:

You gotta calibrate the dialithium crystals to match the stargate's natural frequency of resonance. Then using a particle accelerator and the enterprise's photon torpedoes you can mac-guyver a quantum portal......


etc.

ohhhh

I love quantum physics. Did indeed explain it very well.