The meme is not about the observer effect or wavefunction collapse
Comment on double slit
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I think the meme is just poking fun at the physics behind the whole thing, but in case anyone doesn’t know:
It’s called the observer effect, and it happens because:
This is often the result of utilizing instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner.
And particularly in the double-slit experiment:
Physicists have found that observation of quantum phenomena by a detector or an instrument can change the measured results of this experiment.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_(physics)
So for anyone who wants to have a surface understanding of the observer effect, the wiki does a fair job of the basic explanation.
humbletightband@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
0ops@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Yeah it is. From that wiki article:
A notable example of the observer effect occurs in quantum mechanics, as demonstrated by the double-slit experiment"
humbletightband@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
The meme is not about the double slit experiment
0ops@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Look, I’m not gonna keep quoting Wikipedia at you until you get it, so believe what you want I guess
nothacking@discuss.tchncs.de 8 months ago
It is clearly titled “double slit”.
troglodytis@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Super curious, and promise not to argue. What, in your summation, is the meme about?
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Petulant electrons, I guess.
humbletightband@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
This meme is about the difference in scales. When your electron’s delocalization is much greater than other scales in your system, the electron behaves like a wave. Otherwise if the electron’s delocalization is the smallest scale, it behaves like a particle.
If you can look at the setup of an experiment with your bare eyes, the electron behaves like a particle. If you cannot - it may behave like a wave.
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You can see wave properties from a double slit setup with your bare eyes. Here’s someone who did it with a cardboard box.
youtu.be/Iuv6hY6zsd0?si=TIlEJa4AJQhh8da4
If you setup a detector that measures which path the particles took, the interference pattern disappears- again something you can see with your bare eyes.
IlIllIIIllIlIlIIlI@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Yep, the observer it is not only observing, it is interacting in order to measure.