Photon dynamics in the double-slit experiment

Mark Everett has the double-slit experiment explained to him at Princeton's physics lab. From BBC Four's 'Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives' 2007.

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[sn1pe352]

It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage to "dumb" down physics and q physics so people like myself can understand

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite

[jsound42]

I think we're not seeing the whole picture.

I think that the photons are not actually in 2 places at once, but what we are seeing is the effect of the photons as particles of a wave that fluctuates throughout the 11 dimensions. That's why the resulting pattern appears wave like even if we're only "seeing" certain parts of it. It's almost as if the photons don't care that there is a barrier is there because in some dimensions, it's not.

[EGarrett01]

Is it possible that the photon could bounce off the edge of the slit, so to speak, in order to hit the middle of the paper?

[husooo92]

The diffraction patterns occur because of the wave properties of photons. However when you try to observe what happens to the photon before it goes through the slit, it behaves like a particle (like the tennis ball example). So when we try to observe it before the slits to see what happens, the photon only goes through one of the slits each time to generate two 'smudges', but when we dont look it goes through both of the slits.

[9hello123]

@supremekingof There is differences in gravity all over the world. If you walk a single step there is a difference in gravity.

[AHARG1974]

gravity is not a constant in all places.

[supremekingof]

exactly, but most people here dont understand what an interference pattern is. The photons show a phenomena closer to waves than to matter, and a wave can hit multiple places, matter should not be able to, but in the double slit experiment it matter somehow does.

[supremekingof]

incorrect, then you would see the same phenomena from a single slit experiment which you do not. With a single slit still smaller then the beam of photons, there is only one line created. By your idea, the thickness of the slit would still produce multiple lines at various angles, but it does not.

[supremekingof]

yes light bends to gravity, but on earth the gravitational force is the same, there arent areas with more gravity than others, gravity is a constant; there for there is no gravity acting on the photons at one point that is not at another point.

[XXcelol]

I don't see how a photon would know when to split and WHERE to go ? What if the 2 slit wall were closer to the gun or what if the wall was closer or further away etc. I would conclude that the photons move through either slit, but not split into two then merge again..

Then again I aint no physicist, just my $0.02