Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire NERD ALERT! A discussion in Quantum Mechanics. The Two-Slit Experiment

When I saw two slits and materialism I thought for sure this was about some Kardashians.

That one is two threads down on the left.

(Note I edited my post a bit, sometimes it doesn't come out of my head the clearest as I type.)

I'd bet QED would hold your interest. Be prepared for some bizarre ideas, our common sense notions of how things work are based on the observation of billions and billions (Sagan )of events interacting. A single event standing alone can seem quite different.

Waves came first, it was a practical model way back. Then Einstein showed clearly that photons were particles. Confusion ensued of course. Which will it be today, waves or particles? If you allow that photons don't necessarily move in straight lines you don't need to think of waves. Though wave theory remains as a convenient approximation and misleads schoolkids daily. It is easier to conceptualize, but it's approximation passed on as truth. Feynman explains it all, in steps.

Feynman explains the other stuff too, and more, so much better than I can.

So I don't really exist until my wife sees me and tells me to do something? Dang it

Nobody's looking at my junk right now, but it's there. I can feel it.

You should try an experiment!

When she tells you to take out the trash put a blindfold on her and shout, "I can't, I don't exist!"

Probabilities aren't infinite or we couldn't calculate them. I think Schrodinger's Cat was a misdirection. Have some thoughts on that but I don't know enough to know if they're half-baked or just silly.

My optician said the other day that just about all kids today are studying quantum physics more than anything else in college. A fast growing field and very interesting to the kids.

Light is both a wave and a particle. The real fun is trying to measure dark matter and/or dark energy. It's there but nobody can see it because it absorbers light.

Is dark matter and energy material and reality or is it not. Does anyone know for sure.

I thought this required a little Gus.

yeah we really didnt talk enough at the hog hunt im the biggest one i know too, to the point the vast majority of my science discussions happen with my microbiologist buddy over on the east coast cause no one near me is interested past the basics.....granted its more various aspects of biology than physics

Just tried it. Didn't work. The blindfold prevented me from seeing the book flying at my head.

Which proves this theory wrong. I didn't observe the book, but it still hurt

All that I recall is that my college final exam in quantum mechanics was to derive the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in three dimensions. It was a "take home" exam (thinking piece of cake) with three days to work it (more cake), four problems in all (yes). It was pretty hairy calculus up the azz and I think I spent 30 hours on that one exam. That chit is for special minds.

I'm an engineer with a lot of electromagnetic involvement. I do believe that quantum mechanics & electromagnetic theories will merge or be related. The clues to the universe will evolve from electromagnetic theories. New methods of space travel based on electromagnetic matter & technologies that we can't even imagine today.

For fun read Michael Creighton's "Timeline", a very interesting fiction read and take on Quantum Mechanics.

HAJ,

It's akin to Schrodinger's Cat where all possible realities exist simultaneously until the observer chooses which will be the constant. Thus, each observer choosing, if simultaneously and independent upon of each other, may well choose a different reality.

These scientific theories and descriptions of what is infinitely possible and how they are determined are fascinating. Are they a conception of God? Are they a manifestation of the ancient Taoist philosophies (read those with an open mind, compare to QM/QT)? Are they a conception of the nativistic Great Circle (again, read and compare)? Are they all simply saying the same thing? In some respects, they have to be (assuming QM/QT is true).

I suspect sitting 'round with you, rattler, nighthawk, and a few others could be rather fun.

I'm not so certain that choice enters into the result. Maybe it does, I am just skimming the surface of this stuff.

From the experiments I've read the observer is an instrument without choice.

Then again the purpose of the instrument could be the choice?

So, the duality of light is more than a duality then?

This stuff sucks me in.

I would posit that they are all attempts to put into words the same observations.

This stuff gets the queasions interacting in my stomach. Bizzare, wonderful and terrible is the universe, the theories try to get it knocked down to fit into our heads and how much of it is lost in that effort? The two slit is an enduring thrill, don't let it make you mad, let it make you smile. Having TWO slits is the choice.

Here is one for HAJ (and all the other geeks like me):


Heisenberg and Schr�dinger are speeding in a car and get pulled over by a cop.

Heisenberg is in the driver's seat, the police officer asks "do you know how fast you were going?"

Heisenberg replies, "No, but I know exactly where I am!"

The officer looks at him confused and says "you were going 108 miles per hour!"

Heisenberg throws his arms up and cries, "Great! Now I'm lost!"

The officer, now confused and frustrated, orders the men out of the car, and he proceeds to inspect the vehicle.

He opens the trunk and yells at the two men, "Hey! Did you guys know you have a dead cat back here?"

Schr�dinger angrily yells back, "We do now, a$$hole!"

John

on + off = on, with what was given..