Sunday, January 23

The Double Slit Experiment

What follows is a simplistic video about the Double Slit Experiment and what this means to our understanding of matter.

Something very odd happens in this experiment. For one thing it illustrates (towards the end) that when we observe things this can change what actually happens.

Though the video is by way of cartoon characters the experiment itself and the conclusions are very real. We create our reality by observing it! There's also the possibility that this shows how parallel lives, or universes, are possible. Anyway, see what you think.


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9 comments:

  1. Anonymous08:38

    Applause! Applause! Now how do we get this shown in schools for 10- year-olds? The earlier a child is taught to observe, the more fascinating the world becomes. For everyone. Great post!

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  2. This is great. Last week I saw a programme on TV showing the Double Slit Experiment for real and how photons, when directed through two slits, make three columns. Also showed how when an eye was set up to observe this it didn't happen! There were only two columns. Amazing subject.

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  3. Somehow, the explanation visually works better than what I've read about it. Doesn't it come down to the old zoan koan, if a trees falls in a forest and there's no one around to hear it, did the tree actually fall??

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  4. Mike, your posts are always so fascinating.......

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  5. Terri: Now that would be something, wouldn't it?

    Suzie: I saw that as well, that's why I dug up this video. Seeing it for real on TV finally made me understand the point of the experiment.

    Trish & Rob: I guess it is like the koan but in this case 'something' still happens but not as per the norm.

    Neva: Thanks - great poem you have written today.

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  6. This experiment changed how I view the world. Have you read Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot?

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  7. so great to "see" this experiment as i've read of it so many times - as macgregors said, visually it really does make a difference! great post, mike - thanks for sharing video -

    oh, and nancy, i loved HU!

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  8. Nancy: No, haven't read the Holographic Universe but must get round to doing so. Thanks for the reminder.

    Gypsywoman: I know the video is quite basic but as you say it's still good to see it demonstrated. The 'real' experiment was recently shown on UK television and it was amazing to watch - especially where an 'eye' looking at the experiment made it behave differently.

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  9. Anonymous10:19

    well, the conclusion drawn is really silly. The simpler answer is the electrons DO travel in a wave pattern. The electrons do not actually travel in a dead straight line, if you could zoom in on them you would see a tiny wave along the travel path. So they hit the sides of the slits at differing angles, and reflect off. As the electrons are very small, the apparatus of 'looking eye' obviously pollutes the result somehow. The electron does not know it is being looked at to then suddenly changes behaviour !
    The experiment itself is nutty, not the so called results

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