- #1
rede96
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I’m only an interested layman with no background in physics and just basic math. But I find a lot of physics fascinating and read up when I can.
One thing I’ve struggled with for ages is understanding just exactly what a violation of Bell’s theorem means when referring to the tests done on entangled spin states.
I understand that it rules out the assumption that a particle must objectively have a pre-existing value of spin. But I don’t understand why it rules out a particle having a set of properties which are set when created that just mean the outcome of its spin state will be random depending on other factors.
For example, I don’t imagine an electron to have a definite value of spin at any point in time. But what I can imagine is that it’s spin state coalesces when it comes into contact with the magnetic field when being measured based on certain properties of that electron. And those certain properties may also mean when an entangled pair is measured it will always be correlated when measured at the same angle.
So taking the above statement as an example, why does a violation of Bell’s theorem rule that out?
I respectfully ask people not to just quote the math. It’s not the math per se I struggle with. It’s how it applies that I’m not understanding.
Thanks.
One thing I’ve struggled with for ages is understanding just exactly what a violation of Bell’s theorem means when referring to the tests done on entangled spin states.
I understand that it rules out the assumption that a particle must objectively have a pre-existing value of spin. But I don’t understand why it rules out a particle having a set of properties which are set when created that just mean the outcome of its spin state will be random depending on other factors.
For example, I don’t imagine an electron to have a definite value of spin at any point in time. But what I can imagine is that it’s spin state coalesces when it comes into contact with the magnetic field when being measured based on certain properties of that electron. And those certain properties may also mean when an entangled pair is measured it will always be correlated when measured at the same angle.
So taking the above statement as an example, why does a violation of Bell’s theorem rule that out?
I respectfully ask people not to just quote the math. It’s not the math per se I struggle with. It’s how it applies that I’m not understanding.
Thanks.