Comment by SternLecture on 26/04/2023 at 17:37 UTC

4 upvotes, 4 direct replies (showing 4)

View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science

Currently reading a book called physics as a liberal art. I got a The double slit experiment. I don't understand it. I watched multiple videos and read multiple explanations of it and it's relation to quantum entanglement and shrodingers cat. It all seems totally insane and impossible. I don't want to waste someone's time explaining it but could use a good source to better understand it.

Replies

Comment by mishaneah at 26/04/2023 at 22:52 UTC

7 upvotes, 1 direct replies

The site Ars Technica did a wonderful “no math” write up on quantum physics that explains this quite well.

Comment by CapWasRight at 26/04/2023 at 18:49 UTC

8 upvotes, 1 direct replies

It all seems totally insane and impossible.

If it's any consolation, a lot of the people involved in discovering this kind of stuff felt the same way. Quantum mechanics does all kinds of stuff that just *feels weird and wrong* by your normal intuition, but the math works and it demonstrably matches experimental results.

Comment by hyflyer7 at 26/04/2023 at 17:58 UTC

3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

It all seems totally insane and impossible.

Are you having trouble understanding the wave like nature of quantum particles? Or how the double slit experiment produces an interference pattern?

Comment by dack42 at 27/04/2023 at 03:05 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

If you want to get deep into it, Feynman was excellent at explaining this stuff.

https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III%5C_01.html[1][2]

1: https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III%5C_01.html

2: https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III_01.html

Click the tape reel icon to listen to a recording the man himself walk you through it.