Posted on 06/03/2011 5:57:14 PM PDT by decimon
Researchers have bent one of the most basic rules of quantum mechanics, a counterintuitive branch of physics that deals with atomic-scale interactions.
Its "complementarity" rule asserts that it is impossible to observe light behaving as both a wave and a particle, though it is strictly both.
In an experiment reported in Science, researchers have now done exactly that.
They say the feat "pulls back the veil" on quantum reality in a way that was thought to be prohibited by theory.
Quantum mechanics has spawned and continues to fuel spirited debates about the nature of what we can see and measure, and what nature keeps hidden - debates that often straddle the divide between the physical and the philosophical.
For instance, a well-known rule called the Heisenberg uncertainty principle maintains that for some pairs of measurements, high precision in one necessarily reduces the precision that can be achieved in the other.
One embodiment of this idea lies in a "two-slit interferometer", in which light can pass through one of two slits and is viewed on a screen.
Let a number of the units of light called photons through the slits, and an interference pattern develops, like waves overlapping in a pond. However, keeping a close eye on which photons went through which slits - what may be termed a "strong measurement" - destroys the pattern.
One embodiment of this idea lies in a "two-slit interferometer", in which light can pass through one of two slits and is viewed on a screen.
Let a number of the units of light called photons through the slits, and an interference pattern develops, like waves overlapping in a pond. However, keeping a close eye on which photons went through which slits - what may be termed a "strong measurement" - destroys the pattern.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Average momentum ping.
Which ping did you see?
Ping
So is the cat dead, alive, or does it simply want to eat my brain?
bunk
This goes back a few years for me.
Really!
It's all hard science,
Really!
It's all hard science,
... but we're going to ignore Professor Steinberg and say that it does.
Regardless of the theory, the cat can not be present in both heaven and hell simultaneously.
Looks like the article went thru both slits.
I think it is best to read the whole article to the end.
Then I find myself asking: How long has it been since Einstein cracked the atom, and when will physics take and deliver the next “quantum leap” in the practical utility of what they know and what they believe? I think “civilization” is waiting.
I’m sticking with Charles Darwin as the ultimate scientist.
Heaven and hell are just figments of imagination. Quantum physics is much bigger than our world.
“Heaven and hell are just figments of imagination.”
Heaven and hell are just figments of [some peoples’] imagination....
Doesn’t mean they are not also final human destination points in reality.
Hell is 21 years with my ex-wife.
Let’s not confuse “reality” with earth-centric anthropophilic “beliefs”.
Function: adj : attracted to humans especially as a source of food
also : indicating relative attraction to humans
...anthropophilic indices of certain forest insects
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