Nerdy, but great video on the Double Slit Experiment and Quantum Mechanics

[LChoy]

I saw this on the weekend and thought it was great. A good explanation on quantum mechanics and potentials using the double slit experiment. It's animated

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc

(Sorry, not sure how to imbed the video into the thread)

[Table 5]

Mmm the old double slit experiment...isn't that every man's dream?

[photon]

What the Bleep is a dumb propaganda movie put out by that group that follows the teachings of a channeled 35,000 year old warrior spirit named Rathma.

Please don't watch it thinking it portrays anything to do with real science. I haven't watched the video yet but I'm sure they go off on some tangent about how the outcome changes depending on if its observed or not, implying that a conscious mind has some magical metaphysical property that affects it, when that's not the case at all.

In summary, do not watch this video, watch the Nova series instead: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

[photon]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Mmm the double slit experiment...isn't that every man's dream?

Actually that's an even better reply

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by photon

I haven't watched the video yet but I'm sure they go off on some tangent about how the outcome changes depending on if its observed or not,

That is exactly what they do.

Who are these people? I've never heard of Rathma. What are they trying to get out of this?

[LChoy]

Hey, don't judge the clip from the link, this clip is just the science part, and it explains it well. I wasn't aware of the connection between What the Bleep with channeled spirit guy. This clip is just an animated demonstration of of the experiment in laymens terms. It's the same thing we would learn in first year physics, just that it's explained in simpler terms and pretty neat to watch. The experiment opens up the possibilities of mulitverses and some other really neat quamtum mechanics ideas.

So yeah, just watch it
That NOVA series looks neat though, so I'll check it out when I get home.

[photon]

I judged the clip from the source, not the link.

After watching it yeah they get it right except for the end where they go off the deep end with the implications. They neglect to mention that the graphical eyeball, in order to observe the electron, must interact with it in some way.

The real cool part is when they do the delayed choice version of this experiment, where they either have the screen in place, or remove the screen AFTER the photon/electron/whatever passes through the slit/slits to reveal two telescopes to tell if it went through one or the other (or both) slits.. doing so still results in either an interference pattern (if the screen) or the bands (if the telescopes), meaning that observation changed the experiment after the particle went through the slits.

Strange stuff, the one I'm still trying to understand is the delayed choice quantum eraser, where they erase the information that has has shown which slit the particle went through after the fact and the interference pattern is recovered!

The other cool thing is that they've done this dual slit experiment with not just electrons, but with carbon buckeyballs of 60 or 70 carbon atoms each! That's a pretty big molecule.

EDIT: Oh, and a salon article on the What the Bleep movie: http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/featu...eep/index.html

[LChoy]

Yeah, I just enjoyed the experiement. For some, it can mean implications about the possibility of souls and fate and stuff like that.
Yeah, the math behind the delayed choice experiement is way out of my league.
I like to see it done with buckyballs!
Animal rights activist would probably have a problem with it, but if someone could conduct the schrodinger cat experiment in real life =)

[worth]

I watched "what the bleep" a couple years back and for me the film lost all credibility when the states that the native Americans couldn't see Spanish ships because they had never seen anything like that before. They could only see the waves created by the ships off in the distance. The chief of the tribe stared out until eventually he could see the ships and then he told everyone else and then everyone could see it and was happy...until they were slaughtered. But hey, can't win em all.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by photon

I judged the clip from the source, not the link.

After watching it yeah they get it right except for the end where they go off the deep end with the implications. They neglect to mention that the graphical eyeball, in order to observe the electron, must interact with it in some way.

The real cool part is when they do the delayed choice version of this experiment, where they either have the screen in place, or remove the screen AFTER the photon/electron/whatever passes through the slit/slits to reveal two telescopes to tell if it went through one or the other (or both) slits.. doing so still results in either an interference pattern (if the screen) or the bands (if the telescopes), meaning that observation changed the experiment after the particle went through the slits.

Strange stuff, the one I'm still trying to understand is the delayed choice quantum eraser, where they erase the information that has has shown which slit the particle went through after the fact and the interference pattern is recovered!

The other cool thing is that they've done this dual slit experiment with not just electrons, but with carbon buckeyballs of 60 or 70 carbon atoms each! That's a pretty big molecule.

EDIT: Oh, and a salon article on the What the Bleep movie: http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/featu...eep/index.html

Thanks for that Link, I had seen the film and honestly liked some of what they discussed and was weary of some of the things being claimed/suggested.

The Nova series is fantastic, a must see for anyone remotely curious about this subject matter.

[arloiginla]

How nerdy.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Anyone ever read the book Time Line? It had a similar experiment in it. I forget exactly how it went but it was the same idea just a different theory. Basically what it boiled down to is when they started firing one light photon at a time through the slit, there was still interference, the concluded this interference was being caused by the same light photon except in a different dimension.

Crazy stuff but no idea if it was based on any sort of fact.

Anyone?