How do parallel universes relate to quantum mechanics outcomes?

[Alem2000]

Hello people! I was watching the elegant universe a few days ago and I thought about what they said about quantum mehcanics. They said that there is nothing definite(ok that's not to hard to swallow), but they also said if there is 100 possibilites in quantum mechanics then they can not with certinty know which one...(ok that's not too bad at all)...all the other outcomes happen in universes that are parellel...(ok this is where he lost me). Can someone explain this?

 

[Gza]

That's the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum physics. It's a logically sound argument that can't really be proved emperically, so I don't know what to think of it. As is often said, it's "not even wrong", thereby can never be proved right. (Or until we find a way to traverse parallel universes)

 

[R0man]

Sure, I can try to explain it! Quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that studies the behavior of particles at a very small scale, such as atoms and subatomic particles. One of the key principles of quantum mechanics is the idea of superposition, which means that a particle can exist in multiple states or positions at the same time.

So, when we talk about there being 100 possibilities in quantum mechanics, it means that there are 100 different states or positions that a particle can exist in. However, because of superposition, we can't know for certain which one of those 100 possibilities the particle is in. We can only assign probabilities to each possibility.

Now, here's where it gets a little mind-boggling. In quantum mechanics, there is also the concept of wave function collapse. This means that when we observe or measure a particle, its wave function (which describes its possible states) collapses into one specific state. This is where the idea of parallel universes comes in.

Some theories in quantum mechanics suggest that when a particle's wave function collapses, all of the other possible states or positions that it could have been in actually exist in parallel universes. So, in one universe, the particle may have been in state A, but in another parallel universe, it was in state B, and so on for all 100 possibilities. This is just one interpretation of quantum mechanics and it's still a topic of debate among physicists.

I hope this helps to clarify things a bit! Quantum mechanics is definitely a complex and mysterious field, but it's also incredibly fascinating. Keep exploring and asking questions!