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Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment

#11

Post by ArchieLeach »

BurnGpuBurn wrote: post #9
tyfon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In any case, the cat is the boss in all instances. My cat is very disappointed in me right now that I can't stop the onset of winter and demonstrates it very effectively! There is probably some space-time position where he is completely content but I think that's rarer than seeing him in two places at once.

I'm off shooting cats through two slits I made in my living room wall now, to prove or disprove you. For Science!

The result of which is more Jackson Pollock than interference pattern...

Re: Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment

#12

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

BurnGpuBurn wrote: post #9
tyfon wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In any case, the cat is the boss in all instances. My cat is very disappointed in me right now that I can't stop the onset of winter and demonstrates it very effectively! There is probably some space-time position where he is completely content but I think that's rarer than seeing him in two places at once.

I'm off shooting cats through two slits I made in my living room wall now, to prove or disprove you. For Science!

Always wondered about the backstory for Bill the Cat.

Re: Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment

#14

Post by ohduran »

Altheasy wrote: post #2

The scientist who find the point where super position stops will get the Nobel price for sure, I could give you a hint, it is less than my cat, I'm sure it never been in two places at once (Schrödinger is right about his cat too)

Superposition doesn't stop, or that at least is what I understand. The uncertainty principle can be expressed in terms of increments of energy and increments of time: the farer I could be from where I am supposed to be, so to say (that is the energy increment) is inversely proportional to the time that can be measured (that is the time increment).

However, given that I'm no expert on the topic, I wish someone in a better position could elaborate on this idea.

Re: Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment

#16

Post by mattkevan »

Altheasy wrote: post #2

The scientist who find the point where super position stops will get the Nobel price for sure, I could give you a hint, it is less than my cat, I'm sure it never been in two places at once (Schrödinger is right about his cat too)

Our cat is often in many places at once. He's able to remain in superposition between the garden, the sofa and our bed until I open the fridge, whereupon his wave-function collapses and he's instantly in the kitchen without moving through the intervening space.

Re: Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment

#17

Post by gmueckl »

mirimir wrote: post #4

Damn, it wasn't so easy to find the article, because TFA doesn't explicitly provide author names, even. But the link in the image title led to Fein et al. (2019).[0] So what I'm curious about is how far apart those "Two Places at Once" are. And if I'm understanding Fig. 2 correctly, it's large . That is ... > Fig. 2 | interference data. a, Counts as a function of the transverse position of the third grating with a si…

Thank you!

Rant: Not linking to the source article is a crime conmited by many outlets trying to report on science. I do not understand that practice. It is even worse when the researcher's institution does this in a public press release (MIT is consistently guilty of this). Are these people afraid that their watered down "explanations" are so wromg that even a cursory glance over the paper will show this?

Some news sites such as Ars Technica provide the links. They even have agreements with major publishers that allow them to bypass paywalls and provide their readers with links to the the published full text as well.

Re: Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment

#18

Post by gmueckl »

nabla9 wrote: post #8
Altheasy wrote: post #2

The scientist who find the point where super position stops will get the Nobel price for sure, I could give you a hint, it is less than my cat, I'm sure it never been in two places at once (Schrödinger is right about his cat too)

Superposition is not stopping as far as we know it. Cat typically weighs 3,6 – 4,5 kg. De Broglie Wavelength of 4 kg cat moving 1×10^-10 m/s is 1.7×10^14 m. You cat is in many places at once, those places are just very close to each other.

That exponent for the wavelength is wrong. It should be more like 1.6x10^-33m. At least it should be negative.

Re: Giant Molecules Exist in Two Places at Once in Quantum Experiment

#20

Post by freecodyx »

i feel like my brain is too abstract to accept the idea of something can be at multiple places at once, feels like a chess game, in which every possible move is already known, you only chose one at a time, and thus you decrease the possibilities toward your goal, and there is no go back.
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