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StrictlyRockers

(3,854 posts)
Sat Aug 13, 2016, 09:40 AM Aug 2016

The Logic-Defying Double-Slit Experiment Is Even Weirder Than You Thought

The Logic-Defying Double-Slit Experiment Is Even Weirder Than You Thought

The idea behind the double-slit experiment is that even if the photons are sent through the slits one at a time, there's still a wave present to produce the interference pattern. The wave is a wave of probability, because the experiment is set up so that the scientists don't know which of the two slits any individual photon will pass through.

But if they try to find out by setting up detectors in front of each slit to determine which slit the photon really goes through, the interference pattern doesn't show up at all. This is true even if they try setting up the detectors behind the slits. No matter what the scientists do, if they try anything to observe the photons, the interference pattern fails to emerge.

It gets even weirder than that.

A group of scientists tried a variation on the double slit experiment, called the delayed choice experiment. The scientists placed a special crystal at each slit. The crystal splits any incoming photons into a pair of identical photons. One photon from this pair should go on to create the standard interference pattern, while the other travels to a detector. Perhaps with this setup, physicists might successfully find a way to observe the logic-defying behavior of photons.

But it still doesn't work. And here's the really weird part: It doesn't work regardless of when that detection happens. Even if the second photon is detected after the first photon hits the screen, it still ruins the interference pattern. This means that observing a photon can change events that have already happened.

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http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a22280/double-slit-experiment-even-weirder/
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Spooky.

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The Logic-Defying Double-Slit Experiment Is Even Weirder Than You Thought (Original Post) StrictlyRockers Aug 2016 OP
Kudos to the Pop Mechanics people for trying to make this experiment accessible. Jerry442 Aug 2016 #1
What we call "reality" is just a very advanced, immersive video game. Binkie The Clown Aug 2016 #2
Who knows? Could be. StrictlyRockers Aug 2016 #5
I just saw something in Cat Lovers and Science that explains it all packman Aug 2016 #3
Message auto-removed Name removed Aug 2016 #4

Jerry442

(1,265 posts)
1. Kudos to the Pop Mechanics people for trying to make this experiment accessible.
Sat Aug 13, 2016, 11:33 AM
Aug 2016

Maybe the key here is the phrase "... to determine which slit the photon really goes through,...".

Maybe "really" is a concept that doesn't work at this level.

Binkie The Clown

(7,911 posts)
2. What we call "reality" is just a very advanced, immersive video game.
Sat Aug 13, 2016, 01:14 PM
Aug 2016

Those persistent myths of "Heaven", "Valhalla", "The Happy Hunting Ground", "The Bardo", are a just dim recollection of where we go between games. Reincarnation is just rolling up a new character to play and jumping back into the game.

These great "mysteries" are not mysterious at all when we just realize that it is the way it is because that's the way it was programmed to be.

Who knows? That might really be true. I, for one, would not be terribly surprised if that turns out to be the way "reality" works.

Response to StrictlyRockers (Original post)

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