Quantum Physics Made Simple

In this interpretation what we think is indeterminacy is in fact created because of our inability to see certain ‘hidden’ aspects of particles. In hidden variables, you can say that particles exists as both particles and waves at the same time. There would be the normal particle and a so called pilot wave guiding the particle along its path. The wave then affect the particle with something called the quantum potential. For example in the double slit experiment: First the pilot wave goes through both slits just like explained above, this wave is the thing telling the particle were to …

Hidden Variables Interpretation: An Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics Read More »

In the Copenhagen interpretation we may not ask in what state a system is in until we measure it. I.g the double slit experiment we can’t say that the particle went through both slits, we may actually not say anything about the particle(except that it behaves like a wave) since we haven’t measured it and therefore it isn’t in any specific state yet. Or that a particle has a specific spin until measuredThe interpretation says that the wave function isn’t a real thing; it isn’t the particle itself. This means that half of the particle doesn’t go through one slit …

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If we return to the good old up-down spin, then if you measure the spin of a particle to see if it’s up or down the universe would split into two new universe , one in which you found out that the spin was down and one where it was up. This means that every different situation that can happen, happens but in different universes. This creates something known as the Tegmark quantum suicide experiment. In it there’s two persons and they have one gun(sounds like two typical american 8 year olds to me) connected to a apparatus which measures …

Many World Interpretation: An Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics Read More »

This interpretation uses two wave function which together creates the wave function we see. There is one wave function traveling forward(retarded wave) in time and one other which is traveling backward(advanced wave) in time. For example, the EPR experiment could be explained so that when you measure one of the particles spin a wave will travel backward in time and give the other wave the opposite spin. This would give the impression of faster then light travel, but in reality the wave would travel at light speed. And also in the delayed choice experiment a wave traveling backward in time …

The Transactual Interpretation: An Interpretation Of Quantum Mechanics Read More »

Comes from Richard Feynmans quote: “Shut up and calculate”. As you may have figured out this isn’t exactly an interpretation, it’s simply the brutal use of nothing but the calculations of quantum mechanics, no questions asked. This may seem like the only real way of doing things. But it’s very philosophically disturbing since we humans have a need to understand things on a deeper level.

Teleportation is science fiction terminology, of when something disappears on one place and reappears on another without travelling the distance between.If you would like to teleport a particle you would of course first measure it to see in what state it’s in, but as we’ve seen above, a measurement disturbs the particle you measure in such a way so that it might not even be the same particle before and after the measurement, since the measurement would disturb and change it’s different states. But it seems that quantum mechanics itself offers a solution to it’s own limitations. Alice and Bob …

Quantum Teleportation: An Invention Based On Quantum Mechanics Read More »

A normal computer(like the one your sitting at right now) work with 1s and 0s to create the data which is shown on your screen. But let’s take it quantum mechanically. What if you had a particle who’s spin represented 1s and 0s? E.g an up spin would be 1 and a down spin would be 0. Then you could have the particle in a uncertain state, a super position, and voila two numbers at the same time, a so called qbit(quantum bit).Now you might think that we only get the double capacity because we can store two numbers in …

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The Problem It was discovered that if you send X-rays toward certain materials, the X-rays would lose energy after refraction. And that the steeper angle the incoming X-rays had, the more energy they would lose. This couldn’t be understood using a wave model of light. The Solution It’s easy to see if we consider the X-rays to be made out of particles, and the X-ray particles hit the electrons in the material. Then we can treat the X-ray particles as ordinary balls; if you roll a ball directly toward another ball in a head-on collision, it will loose allot of …

The Compton Effect & Quantum Mechanics Read More »

The Problem In a metal there are electrons, which is very loosely tied to the metal, and when you shine light of the metal the light will knockoff electrons. This means that the light gives of energy to the electrons in the metal thereby making it possible for them to escape. And the more energy the light has, the more energy the knocked off electrons will have. This was known, but it was thought that the energy in a light wave depended on two things: 1. The intensity (amplitude) of the light wave.2. The frequency of the light wave. These …

The Photoelectric Effect & Quantum Mechanics Read More »

The Problem A black body is an idealized object that should be a perfect absorber of electromagnetic waves (light for example), meaning it would absorb all electromagnetic waves of all frequencies, in contrast to say a red object that absorbs only wavelengths that don’t correspond to red light, thereby only emitting light from the red spectrum. A box (or any cavity at all) will serve as a good example of a black body since the radiation won’t get out of the box, you can say that the box has absorbed it: You have a box, and the box is filled …

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