Say you were a spy, and you think there’s a laser guarding the largest diamond in the world.
There’s no way to detect if the laser is there without putting some form of matter in the way of the laser. Be it a hand, or spray bottle.
Now at the museum, a mist won’t set off the alarm, but you’re still reflecting some of the photons out of the beam and into your eyes. Otherwise you wouldn’t see the beam…
But for a quantum experiment, where we care about each individual photon, spraying a fine mist will affect the experiment. Sticking anything in that laser beam path will affect the measurement.
So how do you make a measurement without interacting?
Korne127@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m sorry but what you describe pretty much sounds like… observed
MoonJellyfish@lemmy.today 8 months ago
To observe it you have to interact with it in some way. This mean in order to “see” it you need to shoot some photons at it or send some radio signals which will reflect. It all has an influence.
So the problem is not “observing” in in some philosophical sense. The problem is that you need to interact with it in order to “observe” it.
It’s the interaction that makes “wave function to collapse” not the fact that you observed it.
captainjaneway@lemmy.world 8 months ago
If you use your eyes, nothing happens. Most people think “observe” means they can just look at the experiment and expect it to change. That’s why so many people end up in metaphysics thinking their own perception has any impact on the outcomes of physical states. In reality, it makes no difference.