Thomas Young (1773-1829), a British physician, conducted the double-slit experiment that changed the world. When light is projected from a single source, through two slits, onto a backstop, the interference pattern created indicated light consisted of waves vs. the corpuscles of Sir Isaac Newton. 
The astounding part is that when light, electrons, atoms, or even molecules are fired at the double slits over a period of time the same interference patterns occur—even when the objects are fired one at a time! Molecules as large as bucky balls, a molecule of 60 or more carbon atoms arranged in a sphere, fired singly, produce interference patterns. If the particle is not observed going through the slits, it goes through both, arriving at its destination and causing an interference pattern—it has interfered with itself.The single particle going through the slits is said to have superposition until it is observed. The principle of superposition claims that while we do not know what the state of any object is, it is actually in all possible states simultaneously until we look to check. It is the measurement itself that causes the object to be limited to a single possibility. Should the single particle trajectories be observed, the measurement disrupts the trajectories and the results of the experiment become what would be predicted by classical physics: two bright lines on the photographic plate, aligned with the slits in the barrier. Cease the attempt to measure, and the pattern resumes multiple lines in varying degrees of lightness and darkness.
In 1935, Erwin Schrödinger proposed a thought experiment showing how superposition operates in the every day world: the somewhat
horrific Schrödinger’s cat. Schrödinger places his living cat into a chamber, with a vial of hydrocyanic acid and a small amount of radioactive substance. If an atom of the substance decays, a mechanism breaks the vial and kills the cat. An outside observer cannot know whether the cat is alive or dead. Since he cannot know, the cat is both dead and alive according to quantum superposition states. It is only when we open the box and learn the condition of the cat that superposition is lost, and the cat becomes dead or alive. This situation is 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 until observation happens. There is no outcome until observed.“My own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.” ~J.B.S. Haldane
Have you read "the secret life of plants"? In a less metaphysical way it examines the effect of consciousness on experiments and in particular explores the idea that plants have a consciousness of their own. It's on my summer reading list after reading a short interview with the author in a different book. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz. I didn't read it, but did read about various experiences with emotional impact on plants. For example, when one person had an EEG hooked to one of his "pet" plants, it showed effects when the person killed the bacteria in the kitchen drain. Very cool topic, I agree.
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