Originally posted by Paprika
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The quantum wave.
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Originally posted by Boxing Pythagoras View PostThe quantum is the entity which passes through the double slits. The wave function is a descriptor of that quantum. Asking "what is the wave made of?" is a bit like looking at a fast car and asking, "what is 80mph made of?"
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Originally posted by JimL View Post80 mph is not something that can cause an interference pattern, so I am not at all sure that to be a good analogy for what you are calling the quantum."[Mathematics] is the revealer of every genuine truth, for it knows every hidden secret, and bears the key to every subtlety of letters; whoever, then, has the effrontery to pursue physics while neglecting mathematics should know from the start he will never make his entry through the portals of wisdom."
--Thomas Bradwardine, De Continuo (c. 1325)
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Originally posted by Boxing Pythagoras View Post"80mph" is a description of the car's behavior. Similarly, the wave-function is a description of the quantum's behavior. The wave-function does not cause the interference pattern; it describes the behavior which causes the interference pattern.
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Originally posted by JimL View PostBut what is it exactly that you are calling the quantum? You say it behaves in a certain way, and that it causes the wave pattern, so what exactly is the quantum?Last edited by shunyadragon; 02-15-2015, 08:38 AM.
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Originally posted by JimL View PostBut what is it exactly that you are calling the quantum? You say it behaves in a certain way, and that it causes the wave pattern, so what exactly is the quantum?"[Mathematics] is the revealer of every genuine truth, for it knows every hidden secret, and bears the key to every subtlety of letters; whoever, then, has the effrontery to pursue physics while neglecting mathematics should know from the start he will never make his entry through the portals of wisdom."
--Thomas Bradwardine, De Continuo (c. 1325)
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Originally posted by Boxing Pythagoras View PostA quantum is the minimal unit of an entity involved in an interaction.
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Originally posted by shunyadragon View PostThe word quantum is a descriptive word, and an adjective describing various aspects of the Quantum World, ie, Quantum particles, Quantum Waves, Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Gravity.
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Originally posted by JimL View PostSo your answer then is that the minimal unit of an entity, or with regards to the double split experiment, the minimal unit of an electron (whatever that might be), is the cause of the wave pattern on the detector screen?"[Mathematics] is the revealer of every genuine truth, for it knows every hidden secret, and bears the key to every subtlety of letters; whoever, then, has the effrontery to pursue physics while neglecting mathematics should know from the start he will never make his entry through the portals of wisdom."
--Thomas Bradwardine, De Continuo (c. 1325)
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Originally posted by Boxing Pythagoras View PostYes, but with the clarification that an electron is a quantum. It already is a minimal unit. So, in the double-slit experiment, the photon/electron/other-quantum which passes through the slits is the cause of the wave-like behavior depicted by the interference pattern on the detector screen.
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Originally posted by JimL View PostBut the electron itself, if i am not mistaken, only goes through one of the slits, or are you saying that the one electron, as an electron, as a physical entity, passes through both slits at once?"[Mathematics] is the revealer of every genuine truth, for it knows every hidden secret, and bears the key to every subtlety of letters; whoever, then, has the effrontery to pursue physics while neglecting mathematics should know from the start he will never make his entry through the portals of wisdom."
--Thomas Bradwardine, De Continuo (c. 1325)
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Originally posted by Boxing Pythagoras View PostThat would accord with most interpretations of QM, yes: a single quantum-- one solitary electron, in this case-- passes through both slits.
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Originally posted by JimL View PostOkay, you know better than I do, I'll have to look further into that, but it seems impossible. What if the slits were placed in a ten mile long surface and there were a million or a trillion slits, would the single electron pass through them all?"[Mathematics] is the revealer of every genuine truth, for it knows every hidden secret, and bears the key to every subtlety of letters; whoever, then, has the effrontery to pursue physics while neglecting mathematics should know from the start he will never make his entry through the portals of wisdom."
--Thomas Bradwardine, De Continuo (c. 1325)
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Originally posted by Boxing Pythagoras View PostNope. This behavior only occurs when the slits are extremely close together.
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