- #1
alikim
- 15
- 0
I heard about the following experiment and I'd like to know if it really works this way:
Double slit experiment with a detector that gathers information about which slit every particle goes through and stores it in an unobserved black box. The screen is an unobserved photo film that needs to be developed later to reveal where particles hit it.
After the experiment is done and particles have hit the screen wherever they did, the experimental set is disassembled and the black box and the film is taken out.
Before developing the film, there are two choices: either to open the black box and see the info about particles paths in side or destroy the box.
In you look in the box then you always get two-clump pattern developed on the film, if you destroy the box first then the film will always show the interference pattern.
In case this is true, I also would like to know what it means to observe the contents of the box: is it enough to just open it or do you need to read the information?
Also, what happens if I read the info in the box but I have a bad memory and I later forget what I've read?
Thank you,
Double slit experiment with a detector that gathers information about which slit every particle goes through and stores it in an unobserved black box. The screen is an unobserved photo film that needs to be developed later to reveal where particles hit it.
After the experiment is done and particles have hit the screen wherever they did, the experimental set is disassembled and the black box and the film is taken out.
Before developing the film, there are two choices: either to open the black box and see the info about particles paths in side or destroy the box.
In you look in the box then you always get two-clump pattern developed on the film, if you destroy the box first then the film will always show the interference pattern.
In case this is true, I also would like to know what it means to observe the contents of the box: is it enough to just open it or do you need to read the information?
Also, what happens if I read the info in the box but I have a bad memory and I later forget what I've read?
Thank you,