this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five | Don't Panic!

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The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Thunderdrake3 on 2023-10-04 20:45:51.


I think I have a decent grasp on the dual-slit experiment, but I don't know how the waveforms know when to collapse into a particle. Also, what counts as an observation and what doesn't?

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[–] Shake747 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

From my very limited understanding, it's essentially because in order to detect it, you have to interact with it.

The collapsing of a wave function means you have a range of probabilities, but the probabilities are removed when you pin point the actual location of the electron (particle) by interacting with it.

You can measure either the momentum or the location, but not both at the same time

Hopefully my info was correct lol, someone smarter should chime in, but that's my understanding.