What the Bleep

[xxcardUSAsian2xx]

Eletrons are light! they also probably make a sound

[ShrivldRichard]

If the Gateway Arch were under these same conditions somehow, it's position would be in downtown St. Louis, give or take a hundred miles. Because of this give-or-take position, the electrons get "fuzzy" enough to overlap into one big blob.

[ShrivldRichard]

Another way to look at it is that as the atoms get colder and thus slower, their velocity gets easier to obtain. You could pretty much say that they had none. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says that the more you know about the velocity of an electron (or photon), the less you can know about its location, and vise versa. As the velocity gets easier to find, the position of the electron gets "fuzzy".

[FatLingon]

Okay, this seems awesome, but scientific method dictates that they also need to test to fire those electrons as usual(not one by one) and observe(measure)... and also try to have that observer present but not active. Before they start giving off paranormal/supernatural conclusions.

[ShrivldRichard]

In 1995, a team of Colorado scientists managed to cool atoms enough to make them into a Bose-Einstein Condensate. No, this is not some sort of new ice-cream flavor. This state is created when the wavelength of the atoms get large enough to overlap, creating a mass of thousands of atoms which act like one.

[mallamoozoo]

so does this mean a bose-einstein condensate would be an example of a large scale object that behaves according to q.m. ?

[Aelcyx]

He makes "observing" sound very innocuous and detached from the experiment. What we must keep in mind is that *anytime* you observe something, you change that thing. For instance, you put a thermometer in the pool to get its temp - you actually heat up the pool a tiny amount with the thermometer. {cont'd}

[Aelcyx]

{continuation from above} Think about measuring the temp of a single drop of water with the thermometer - the observation of the temp actually changes the temp of the water. So, when you observe the electrons in the double slit experiment, you *must* be giving energy to the electron in some form. This is why the outcome changes.

[winwin02]

So very wrong...

[Aelcyx]

Perhaps I am! This is the beauty of science -- being wrong is okay. Please point out what is wrong and suggest a better explanation. My point was not to confuse people with the academic explanation and solve the Schrodinger equation, but to put it in laymen's terms. So, yes, I took some liberties, but only because I enjoy spreading knowledge.

[winwin02]

The particles leave as particles, travel as waves of quantum possibility, and arrive as particles. They only appear as particles because we 'measure/observe' them as such. So when we 'measure/observe' the slits, then it collapses the quantum wave of possibilties and we see particles.

[Aelcyx]

Sorry, that is wrong according to the current theory. Everything is sort of a hybrid of a wave and a particle called a "wavepacket." Before observation, the electrons (as well as any particle) are in a superposition of all possible energy states and collapse into one energy state upon observation. (continued)

[Aelcyx]

This is just the energy of the electron -- it doesn't affect wave-particle duality.  Since everything, including light, has this wave-particle duality, you imply light would become a particle upon observation, which is not the case.

[winwin02]

Your first comment is exactly what i said phrased differntly. Your second comment is inccorrect tho. Light does become a particle on observation, it has been tested many times. Infact it was tested before an electron as its far easier to measure.

[iceberglund]

totally agree

[amoralphat40oz]

Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome Awesome

[zilhao]

Great!

[Cistane]

i love this

[Nueros]

i feel like im back in school

[cymekindustries]

It should be noted that the marbles will also produce an interference pattern at the right speeds.

[jeffy8]

For a massive particle to have wave-like properties (i.e. compared to its size), it's velocity would have to be pretty darn high. At any reasonable speed, quantum effects are more than negligible for macroscopic objects (as you probably know).

[toasterkitten]

oh god.

where did you get this from?!

[Tatl]

This is gold! I need more!! Now!