So in string theory everything is attached by some sort of particle thingy

[Marty Champions]

JF, OK ... sticking to the question/subject at hand.

Here's one relatively simple explanation that is posted on the internet about Schrodinger's Cat ....but throwing this at you without some basic info about QM may tend to be a bit confusing.

But give is a GOI anyway!

Schrödinger's cat is a famous illustration of the principle in quantum theory of superposition, proposed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. Schrödinger's cat serves to demonstrate the apparent conflict between what quantum theory tells us is true about the nature and behavior of matter on the microscopic level and what we observe to be true about the nature and behavior of matter on the macroscopic level -- everything visible to the unaided human eye.

Here's Schrödinger's (theoretical) experiment: We place a living cat into a steel chamber, along with a device containing a vial of hydrocyanic acid. There is, in the chamber, a very small amount of hydrocyanic acid, a radioactive substance. If even a single atom of the substance decays during the test period, a relay mechanism will trip a hammer, which will, in turn, break the vial and kill the cat.

The observer cannot know whether or not an atom of the substance has decayed, and consequently, cannot know whether the vial has been broken, the hydrocyanic acid released, and the cat killed. Since we cannot know, according to quantum law, the cat is both dead and alive, in what is called a superposition of states. It is only when we break open the box and learn the condition of the cat that the superposition is lost, and the cat becomes one or the other (dead or alive). This situation is sometimes called quantum indeterminacy or the observer's paradox: the observation or measurement itself affects an outcome, so that the outcome as such does not exist unless the measurement is made. (That is, there is no single outcome unless it is observed.)

We know that superposition actually occurs at the subatomic level, because there are observable effects of interference, in which a single particle is demonstrated to be in multiple locations simultaneously. What that fact implies about the nature of reality on the observable level (cats, for example, as opposed to electrons) is one of the stickiest areas of quantum physics. Schrödinger himself is rumored to have said, later in life, that he wished he had never met that cat.

This help or not???

But there is so much more that preceeds this damn cat and the box he may or may not be dead or alive in.

ok i get the way they are defining "superposition" . This "superposition" means "x" could be in "b" or "a" states until observed. Ok thats understood

But what are these "effects of inteference" THAT SHOW A PARTICLE TO BE IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS SIMULTANEUSLY?



we are getting somewhere stuntman lets keep this going i can figure this out

[The Ugly]

Feels good, don't it? Mental masturbation.

[stuntmovie]

JF, If I recall correctly that  "effects of interference" was the result of an experiment in which two light waves crossed and thereby created the absence of light (or something like that).

If I recall correctly... you can perform that experiment with a couple of flash-lights.

But in order to understand the importance of that experiment you would have to understand the DUAL NATURE OF LIGHT (Is it a wave or a particle) which I find to be one of the most interesting and somewhat understandable topics within the world of QM (and that may simply be due to the fact that it's relatively simple to understand because once you get deep into other QM 'stuff' it's beyond most people's ability to get a grasp of what it's all about).

I've heard intelligent people even say that the "light' itself makes it's own decision to be either a wave or a particle depending on how one observes it. I don't know how true that is but  that thought in itself is mind-boggeling!

That inability to understand QM most likely applies to over 99% of the world's population ... of which I consider myself to be 'one of'. But I am trying and I have received a couple of compliments from so called experts within the field.)

Below you will find an article regarding the ability of a partical to be in two different locations.

I fail to understand it but even more interesting is that QM includes something even more amazing whcih is even more complicated.

In simple terms it says that Johnny Falcon is physically present in another universe doing the complete opposite of what you are aware of yourself doing this very moment. IN fact there are numerous Johnny Falcons in a vast number of other universes who are each doing something completely different from one another.

That part of QM can be found much later in the book, but by then my mind was so messed up that I put it down for a later day. IN fact I put it down for a later day 6 times over a period of about 10 years.

[stuntmovie]

In two places at once: Strange world of quantum mechanics shown to work in visible world for first time
   

The mind-bending laws of quantum mechanics, where tiny atoms and molecules can effectively be in two places at once, have been applied to a visible object for the first time.
A U.S team managed to create a quantum state in an object billions of times larger than any previously tested.

Andrew Cleland from the University of California and his team used a tiny metal paddle, which is inclined to vibrate when a current passes through it.

A team has proven that quantum mechanics doesn't just work in the world of atoms and molecules

They cooled it to a thousandth of a degree above absolute zero. This is very close to its quantum mechanical 'ground state', which is when no more energy can be removed.
The team then transmitted just one quantum of electrical energy from a specially devised electric circuit to the paddle.

They were able to show the resonating paddle was in a quantum state, between one and zero quanta of energy. This meant it was effectively moving and standing still at the same time.

The paddle was effectively a real-life version of 'Schrodinger's cat' - a famous thought experiment devised by the physicist Erwin Schrodinger.

He described a situation where a cat is placed inside a steel chamber alongside a vial of acid and a small amount of radioactive substance. If one atom of this decays during a test period this will break the vial and kill the cat.

Schrodinger said according to quantum law the cat was alive and dead in a super-position of states while the chamber was closed.

The state of the cat is only decided when the chamber is opened and the cat is observed. So it is the observation or measurement itself that affects the outcome.

This is the nub of the paradoxes that occur in the quantum state - the world of the very very small.

But the latest experiment is important as it proved that the principles of quantum mechanics can apply to everyday objects as well as atomic-scale particles.

'This is an important validation of quantum theory, as well as a significant step forward for nanomechanics research,' Professor Cleland told the journal Nature.
So why don't we see much larger objects like buses moving and standing still at the same time?

Professor Cleland says the larger an object, the easier it is for outside forces to disrupt its quantum state.

'The environment is this huge, complex thing,' he said. 'It's that interaction with this incredibly complex system that makes the quantum coherence vanish.'
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The above may not specific ally answer your question but then again, it might. But QM is saying that somewhere in another place, you are understanding .... Or something like that!

I gotta read that part of the book and and pay more attention.

If the above sounds CRAZY to you, you are beginning to get a firm crasp of the wierdness of  Quantum Mechanics.

[Tapeworm]

I keep wanting to learn more about particle/wave duality but every time I google

Young two slit experiment

I wind up getting sidetracked.

[Wolfox]

String Theory is a theory built on the idea of another theory called Supersymmetry being true. Unfortunately not even the LHC(Large Hadron Collider) has produced evidence for supersymmetry.

I've heard String Theory described as fancy math by a Theoretical Physicist.

I think of it as an attempt to fill in the gaps i.e unifying gravity and the quantum world. It's just filler.

Something better will come along. And altho we may never truly understand our existence we will make the journey.

[King Shizzo]

String Theory: Shizzo style.

[Tapeworm]

I keep wanting to learn more about particle/wave duality but every time I google

Young two slit experiment

I wind up getting sidetracked.

I say, that's a joke, kids. 

[King Shizzo]

I say, that's a joke, kids. 

The smart jokes get overlooked many times. It's a curse. 

[Tapeworm]

The smart jokes get overlooked many times. It's a curse. 

*SIGH*

[King Shizzo]

*SIGH*

Kermit has stage 3 Palumboism.

[stuntmovie]

Thanks, WOLFOX! I gotta find and re-read my string theory notes, but I'm sure I won't understand it once again. If I do manage to figure out a bit of it, I'll mention it here, but don't expect me to do so. I are dum when it comes to ST, but I can tell you all you'd need to know about the Dice Paradigm which originally got me interested in QM. (The mind works in mysterious ways.)

TAPE, thanks for mentioning that Two Slit Experiment. That experiment is one of the first things you learn about when you get involved with QM. (Actually you first gotta learn about a lot of dead smart  guys who did some deep "thunking" during past couple of hundred years.)

The best explanation for that two split experiment can be found in Dancing wu. Li Masters.

[stuntmovie]

If anyone is interested.... Here's an explanation of the TWO SLIT EXPERIMENT or DOUBLE SLIT EXPERIMENT....

When I attempt to explain this to inquisitive minds I make it as simple as possible by describing light rays as either bullets (particles) or waves similar to the waves in an ocean.

And the slits would be something like two holes or gaps in a seawall.

That's one way to imagine what follows ........

In the basic version of this DOUBLE SLIT experiment, a coherent light source such as a laser beam illuminates a plate pierced by two parallel slits, and the light passing through the slits is observed on a screen behind the plate.

The wave nature of light causes the light waves passing through the two slits to interfere, producing bright and dark bands on the screen—a result that would NOT be expected if light consisted of classical particles (bullets).

 However, the light is always found to be absorbed at the screen at discrete points, as individual particles (not waves), the interference pattern appearing via the varying density of these particle hits on the screen.

This result establishes the principle known as wave–particle duality.

Furthermore, versions of the experiment that include particle detectors at the slits find that each bit of light passes through one or the other slit (as bullets would), but not through both (as waves would).
________________________ ________________________ _______

Something interesting happens here! Do these particles or waves THINK and react accordingly?