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Wtf did I just read (mander.xyz)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 3 months ago (1 children)

My understanding as a layperson: probably stuff is probably around here somewhere, probably.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Yeah, basically we normally blast things with photons to measure them, whether that's in a complex microscope or you just turning on the light, so you can see your measuring stick.

Now, photons are themselves quanta. So, for measuring quanta, we're blasting quanta at quanta. It's not quite like throwing a tennis ball at another, because there's no hard collisions at the quantum level, but the quanta do still interact and kind of push each other around.

So, any time you measure a quantum, you also push it around, which means what you just measured is not anymore true. As a result, you can only determine a probability of where it might now be.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

Best advice I've probably gotten on any subject ever was in a modern physics course. The professor said to focus on the math first and then, only when you've got a solution, think about what it means. If you try to think about it while working it out, your intuitions about what should happen will get in the way and you'll make mistakes.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago

The moment you think you understand it, that superposition collapses and you're back to "huh?"

Every damn time.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

I understand it by acknowledging that I don't understand it.

And honestly that's not a joke.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I keep reading articles about quantum physics in the hope that some day I'll spot some kind of pattern that turns out to be the key to understanding it. No luck yet.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago

What helped me understand QM was spending four years getting a degree in physics then never using it again.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

It’s all just magic.

Accept it. Embrace.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

I pretend I understand string theory by pretending to explain it.

Somewhere someone else is, also.