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ProTerran
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Hello,
Quick question:
Will radioactive particles give interference pattern if there is no measuring device?
Quick question:
Will radioactive particles give interference pattern if there is no measuring device?
ProTerran said:Hello,
Quick question:
Will radioactive particles give interference pattern if there is no measuring device?
jbar18 said:Before I chip in, I should warn you that I'm not a proper physicist or anything, so I could very well be wrong. If I am I am sure someone will correct me though.
With regards to the measurement problem, the way I've made sense of it is that before a particle interacts in a given situation there are certain properties that you can't know exactly, such as position. Not just because it's too hard to measure them, but because the particle itself doesn't even have an exact position or whatever. In order to make a measurement you force the particle to make some sort of interaction, and so it has to make up its mind what it's doing. So it's not just because humans want to look at it, the particle has been forced to make a choice because of an interaction, and so the wave function for all of this fuzzy information has to collapse. Before the interaction, the particle has made no commitment about what is going to happen to it, so to speak. So any time a particle has to "make up its mind" the wave function collapses, and when you measure something, you force the particle to make up its mind. A particle will choose what information it has when it interacts, and a measurement device makes particles interact so that we can see this information. The measurements have been made whether we look at them or not, so storing the measurements without looking would be no different to making the measurements and looking - either way the particles in question have interacted with the measuring device. It's the interaction that collapses the wave function, not us looking at it.
Like I said, I'm pretty sure this is all right, but I am still very much on the learning curve myself, so anyone please correct me if I am wrong.
ProTerran said:Thanks, it sounds ok to me, but still I am a little confused (btw, I'm not a physicist too).
At the beginning of this topic I have mentioned about the radioactive particles. What makes radioactive particles different from electrons? You don't need to send photons or other particles to get information about it's position because radioactive particle is already sending them.
What also bothers me in your description is why structure of the measuring device is so much different from the structure of the plate with slits that it collapses the wave function to one particular state? I guess that leads us again to the problem of measurement and what exactly it is.
The Double Slit Experiment is a classic physics experiment that demonstrates the wave-like behavior of particles. It involves a beam of particles, such as electrons or photons, being passed through two parallel slits and observed on a screen. The resulting pattern on the screen shows interference, indicating that the particles behave as waves. This experiment is important because it challenges our understanding of the fundamental nature of particles and has implications for quantum mechanics and the nature of reality.
The Double Slit Experiment can be performed with various types of particles, including radioactive ones. In this case, a radioactive source is placed in front of the two slits, and the particles emitted from the source are passed through the slits and observed on the screen. The resulting interference pattern shows that even radioactive particles exhibit wave-like behavior, further supporting the wave-particle duality concept in quantum mechanics.
The role of the observer in the Double Slit Experiment is crucial. The act of observing or measuring the particles changes their behavior, causing them to lose their wave-like properties and behave as discrete particles. This is known as the collapse of the wave function. The observer's presence and interaction with the particles highlight the mysterious and complex nature of quantum mechanics.
No, the Double Slit Experiment cannot determine the exact path of a particle. This is because the act of measuring or observing the particles changes their behavior, making it impossible to determine their exact path. This is also known as the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics, which states that the more precisely we know a particle's position, the less we know about its momentum, and vice versa.
The Double Slit Experiment has significant implications for our understanding of the nature of reality and has led to many technological advancements, such as the development of transistors and the understanding of quantum computing. It also challenges our classical view of the world and highlights the mysterious and complex nature of quantum mechanics. Further research and understanding of this experiment could potentially lead to revolutionary discoveries in various fields, including physics, technology, and philosophy.