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.
Jerry442
(1,265 posts)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)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.
StrictlyRockers
(3,854 posts)I hear this is Elon Musk's new theory, too.
packman
(16,296 posts)Response to StrictlyRockers (Original post)
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