Can you explain one of the greatest mysteries ever ?

Davros

Legend
There are a lot of intelligent people here so see if you can explain one of the greatest mysteries in physics
Dont let the word physics put you off, there are no scary equations here and no maths, the experiment is very simple to follow.
Can you come up with an explanation where everyone says "So that's whats happening it's so obvious why didn't I think of that."
If you can there's a Nobel prize (and 1million) waiting for you.
This experiment has been known about for about 100years and while there are several theories to explain whats going on (which I will mention later if there is any interest) and some theories are more popular than others, there is no consensus among physicists as to whats actually going on.
So without further ado the famous "Double Slit Experiment"
 
Atoms have 6th sense and know when they're watched!

This is why I love to read and learn about quantum physics and I never became quantum physicist - it's too wired for me!
 
It kind of reminds of the thought experiment "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?".

Apart from that it means nothing to me. I guess you'd have to study quantum physics to even know where to start. :)
 
this is pretty cool. I didn't know that atoms behaved in the similar fashion as to light. This is quite interesting.
 
I wonder what happens when you don't just let the sand particles fall through the slits driving by gravity, but shoot them with an enourmous velocity through the slit.

I could imagen that the velocity being an important parameter for the behaviour.

Maybe the atoms loose energy, i.e. Kinetic energy, somehow due to interaction with the detector?

Problem is: the smartest guys in the world are thinking about this stuff...it must be a bit more complicated than that [emoji4]
 
If I were to build on that I wonder if the camera and the atom emitter was tested in a vaccuum or in air.
 
Atoms have 6th sense and know when they're watched!
To watch something you have to hit it with something usually light. Atoms having so little mass are affected by the light.
If I observed things by throwing tennis balls in front of me and analyzed how they bounced back you'd soon know if I was watching you.

I wonder what happens when you don't just let the sand particles fall through the slits driving by gravity, but shoot them with an enormous velocity through the slit.
You would get the same result. If however the experiment was performed horizontally the sand would also accelerate downwards at 9.8meters per second/per second

If I were to build on that I wonder if the camera and the atom emitter was tested in a vaccuum or in air.
In a vacuum. You could however do the experiment with light (shooting one photon at a time at the barrier) in air.
similar experiment here: (except shooting billions of photons simultaneously through the slits)

Maybe the atoms loose energy, i.e. Kinetic energy, somehow due to interaction with the detector?
While measuring very small things is indeed a problem in physics I'm wondering if your missing the mystery "How can single particle after single particle over time build up an interference pattern, why don't they just hit the screen directly opposite the slits like larger objects would"
 
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Atoms have 6th sense and know when they're watched!

Nope. This video has an explanation of how this phenomenon was originally discovered.


1 photon at a time = Wave pattern.

1 photon at a time + detector = Particle pattern.

1 photon at a time + detector but with data recording off = Wave pattern.

In that last example, the detectors were still on and detecting the passage of photons. The only change was that they stopped recording the data.

The video also explains what is going on.

The photons exist as a probability distribution up until the time it is measured/recorded at which time it is no longer a probability and collapses to become a particle. Where the measurement takes place (data is recorded) determines the behavior of the particle at that time.

At least from a Quantum Physics point of view.

Regards,
SB
 
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1 photon at a time + detector but with data recording off = Wave pattern.

That's literally spectacular. I was already familiar with this experiment but was unsure on this particular point, i.e. is it pure observation that collapses the wave form (amazing) or is it the interaction with the particles that are used to enable the observation (much more mundane). If what you state here proves it is the former then... just... wow.....

I think therefore I am......
 
So according to that video explanation if someone is watching me, my body atoms behave as particles and you can determine position and shape quite accurately, but if no one is looking at me I can change form and probably not be there at all or not in the shape I know :)
 
So according to that video explanation if someone is watching me, my body atoms behave as particles and you can determine position and shape quite accurately, but if no one is looking at me I can change form and probably not be there at all or not in the shape I know :)
If no one is looking, who's to say you even exist?
 
The photons exist as a probability distribution up until the time it is measured/recorded at which time it is no longer a probability and collapses to become a particle. Where the measurement takes place (data is recorded) determines the behavior of the particle at that time.
One of the more interesting aspects of this is, why exactly would individual atoms exist as probabilities unless they're observed? Atoms are physical, material "objects".

Frankly, this speaks for the "the universe is just a computer simulation" theory, with quantum effects being "glitches in the Matrix", if you will. ;)
 
I was thinking would it be possible to recreate the experiment with nothing shall we say weird
going on and I think it is.

Imagine I had a crt capable of firing 1 electron at a time and the voltage going to the
plates could be controlled by a computer.
The first thing you need to do is figure out the voltages for the Y axis. Imagine to get an
electron to hit the top of the screen you need to supply a voltage of -1000 millivolts to the Y
plates and +1000 millivolts to the bottom. Then you just generate random numbers (perhaps
millions per second) that fall between -1000 and +1000 and use them to decide the voltage that
goes to the Y plate.

The X plates are a little more complicated.
as before you figure out the voltages needed to make the electron hit the leftmost and
rightmost parts of the screen, also you figure out the voltages that would correspond to the
bright areas and the dark areas of the screen(through experiment). again lets say its -1000 and
+1000 millivolts for left and right of the screen.

Then you generate your random numbers but discard any that would make the electron hit an area
of the screen that's dark in the original experiment.
Finally not all bright bands have the same probability of being hit so first you find out the
probability of each band being hit in the original experiment.
Lets say you have 5 bright bands left to right 1 to 5.
If 1 has a chance of 10% of being hit, 2 = 20%, 3 = 40%, 4 = 20%, 5 = 10%
you would generate 100 random numbers select 10 that correspond to band 1, 20 to 2, 40 to 3, 20
to 4 and 10 to 5.
Then you would randomly choose one of those numbers and use that to decide the voltage to send
to the X plate. then you would get results identical to the original experiment (apart from my
experiment would produce an interference pattern with just 1 slit or if there was no barrier).

In other words waves in a rapidly changing field would make single particles over time produce
an interference pattern.

You may ask why hasn't anyone seen this field well let me give you an example,
remember the higgs particle at cern, the important thing there wasn't the particle but the higgsfield,
its never been observed or detected yet it fills all of space.
Neither for that matter has the higgs particle been detected, it decays into unique particles within a couple of billionths of a second
These particles have distinct amounts of energy, charges and velocities and its these that have been detected.
A bit like detecting pieces of a watch which proves watches exist, which in turn proves watchmakers exist.

I am really proud of my idea because a couple of months later I found out that it is a genuine
theory believed by some scientists.It's explained in the video below along with some other theories.

You should start watching at 32:50 if the copy url from current time doesn't work

For those who dont want to spend the time watching heres a quick summary of some of the theories.

The atom travels through both slits at the same time interferes with itself then joins back
together when it hits the screen. While an atom can split (called fission) and join together (fusion)
this isn't happening the processes releases radiation which could be detected.
We could create cheap nuclear powerstations by just firing atoms at slits :D
Also if you use a particle that isn't composite and cant be split you still get the same result.

The atom turns into an wave version of itself which travels through both slits interferes with itself before
turning into an atom again

The atom turns into a wave of probability which travels through both slits and (possibly interferes with
itself not sure) before turning into an atom again.

The 3 above are variations of whats known as the Copenhagen interpretation.


The path of the atom is dictated by summing up the result of all possible paths
The path integral interpretation.

The atom travels through one slit but in a parallel universe it travels through the other.
Infact there is a universe for every possible event that could happen therefore all possible events do happen.
The many worlds interpretation.

There is a wave possibly within a field which affects the motion of the particle (the theory I favour)
The guiding wave or pilot wave interpretation.
 
Infact there is a universe for every possible event that could happen therefore all possible events do happen.
The many worlds interpretation.
So why is it that when I spin the roulette table wheel I don't win every time? Cuz, in some universe out there, my number would be the winning one. ;)
 
Schroedingers cat?

Of course, The Key Question is,
How many different ways of Observing & Recording the particles did they try?
 
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