@merikmalhads1676

1 year ago

For those who haven't done quantum mechanics at university level, I'd like to share a realization I had while doing Schrodinger equations on one dimensional particles. The field of influence is not where the electron may be but is actually the state of electrons when not directly interacting with an 'observing' photon. It is hard to really explain but imagine one location where you find the electron in the bubble-shaped region. This is what is called an eigenstate and there is one for every location the electron could possibly be. An eigenstate is essentially a measurable state of literally anything and imagine all possible eigenstates for an object to be everywhere and everything that particular item can do in its existence in the universe. An example set of two eigenstates is that of a fridge door, it can either be open or closed, we therefore can say there are two eigenstates of the fridge at any time those being [door open] and [door closed]. Now imagine I blindfolded you and asked you "what eigenstate is this fridge door in?" and remember there is no peeking or feeling if cold air is there. The only answer you can give is that the door is either open or it is closed, this is what we can call a superposition. As far as you are concerned, the fridge could either be open or closed which leaves you with the only correct answer is that the door is both closed and open until I let you take that blindfold off to check. This is not only an interesting thought experiment but it also actually describes the way particles exist in our universe at any given time without interacting with another particle. In other words, when no one is watching, that door is both open and closed simultaneously until something 'measures' it. I say measures in quotations because how we observe things is by measuring them, we can't tell you where in that nebulous cloud the electron is until we send something to interact with it like a photon of light to check to see which eigenstate it happens to be in at that particular moment in time. What is almost impossible to comprehend is that these electrons actually do exist in the state of superposition when nothing is interacting with them. The electron, and all quantum particles for that matter, exists in a state of being in every possible eigenstate in existence until another particle interacts with it and collapses the waveform (the big cloud is a 3D waveform) giving that interacting a particle a glimpse of where the target particle is at that particular moment. The reason every big thing we deal with doesn't dissolve into cloudy soup is because there are quadrillions of other particles to continually trap each other into far more confined forms basically all the time. A solid table or floor is made up of billions of nuclei (which are confined quarks trading gluons with each other) with electrons bound by the constant exchange of photons (the electromagnetic force carrier particle) and they are often constantly bombarded by radiation from the universe including neutrinos and buckets of different photons. And before you think "doesn't that mean I can break the speed of light because the electron could be here or on the moon?" The one stipulation about the universe that remains true is that no, you can't break the speed of light. What happens to a measured particle like an electron after it is measured and returns to the cloudy superposition is that the cloudy superposition can only expand at the speed of light (or in electron's cases, very slightly below the speed of light because it does have a little bit of mass which slows it down a very small amount). Just a reminder though if you don't get it by this point and think you are stupid, I reached this realization while actually doing the math to calculate how particles actually do this (yes in one dimension but multivariable calculus exists) at a university level with calculus to VASTLY simplify the geometry [you could do it by just geometry but it would take you a lifetime to do one calculation calculus can do in 2-5minutes]. Don't feel bad because you didn't take an advanced course, just take it yourself if that is what you want to do

3 |