Wave/Particle Duality DawnGurl: People have argued for a long time whether light is a wave or a particle, however, after much study scientists seem to be coming to the conclusion that things are way more confusing than that. Scientists performed studies which seem to show that a photon can act as a wave and a particle at the same time. However, they also have found studies showing that a photon will choose to be a wave or a particle only when forced to make the decision under controlled conditions. So far scientists have no explanation for why this works, and are still trying to understand it. Some have even called it “the one true mystery of Quantum Mechanics”. What are your thoughts on this mystery? (Edited by DawnGurl)  lori100: " a photon will choose to be a wave or a particle only when forced to make the decision " ?? So photons are conscious intelligent beings?  Thosny: Too much to write about at the moment, but for a better reference of what "light" is - look up "quantum vector field" lori100: Scientists show future events decide what happens in the past www.digitaljournal.com/science/experiment-shows...decide.../434829 ---------An experiment by Australian scientists has proven that what happens to particles in the past is only decided when they are observed and measured in the future. Until such time, reality is just an abstraction. -------------Quantum laws tend to contradict common sense. At that level, one thing can be two different things simultaneously and be at two different places at the same time. Two particles can be entangled and, when one changes its state, the other will also do so immediately, even if they are at opposite ends of the universe – seemingly acting faster than the speed of light. Particles can also tunnel through solid objects, which should normally be impenetrable barriers, like a ghost passing through a wall. And now scientists have proven that, what is happening to a particle now, isn't governed by what has happened to it in the past, but by what state it is in the future – effectively meaning that, at a subatomic level, time can go backwards. -------------------heyyyy......'tunnel through solid objects...should be ...impenetrable barriers...." "reality is just an abstraction"...^^^....and seems time as we think of it is an illusion, too...as I've been posting and Seth, Einstein, Bohr have stated ....;  Happy_Westerner: Their concept is interesting. Water and other matter can exist in several states based on conditions: liquid, gas, solid. Is it possible that photons can be either in a state of wave or particle depending on the heat element? But if so then it never really leaves the particle state as it must have some atomic structure. Heat acts on cold. Light on darkness. Waves may just be very small particles acting on the atomic structure of other atoms. Is there another part of the "atomic particle" (for light) that has yet to be discovered and thus would uphold their theory that light can be in either a physical or wave state? And the "decision" is not made by the light but by the forces acting upon it otherwise that would make it an "intelligent being" like some animal able to change its skin color to adopt to the environment. I would love to hear someone describe how this theory could be upheld. Science should be about open dialog. Thus if they are right then light is a particle state and the wave state would involve some sort of "atomic" structure else particles are being formed out of nothing. There must be some uniting "element" that would cause them to take on the physical state if their theory is true. lori100: I'm sure there is more about atomic particles that have yet to be discovered....and why couldn't the photons have an intelligent consciousness?.........Seth by Jane Roberts on the vibratory nature of atoms------"As I have said frequently, time as you think of it does not exist, yet in your terms, time's true nature could be understood if the basic nature of the atom was ever made known to you. In one way, an atom could be compared to a microsecond. It seems as if an atom "exists" steadily for a certain amount of time. Instead it phases in and out, so to speak. It fluctuates in a highly predictable pattern and rhythm. It can be perceived within your system only at certain points in this fluctuation, so it seems to scientists that the atom is steadily present. They are not aware of any gaps of absence as far as the atom is concerned. In those periods of nonphysical projection, the off periods of fluctuation, the atoms "appear" in another system of reality. In that system they are perceived in what are "on" points of fluctuation, and in that system also then the atoms (seem to) appear steadily. There are many such points of fluctuation, but your system of course is not aware of them, nor of the ultimate actions, universes, and systems that exist within them." (Edited by lori100)  calybonos: I think that however a photon decides to behave in the privacy of it's own home is nobody's business but it's own. I'm still on the fence about the whole marriage issue though.  Nj315th: I think the particle not decide itself to behave as particle or wave. But the measurement that we do on it is the decision of when the particle is particle or wave Such as double slit experiment the operator (the way we measure) that we act on particle can determine behaviour of particle (Edited by Nj315th)  Evelyn99: According to some people who are into quantum physics described that a particle has a chance or a probability of hitting or passing through for example a whole in a object. Simple enough. They fired some photons and what they said where to be correct. But something else more interesting the reason for the program was that every now and again one photon would pass through two holes simultaneously. It’s impossible for a photon to divide it self but never the less this happened. Niels Boer called quantum physics spoky. Einstein said god don’t roll a dize) Thosny: Not exactly. I believe it was Einstein who categorized Shrodinger's theory of "entanglement" as 'spooky' and it was Neils Bohr who once quipped back "Einstein, stop telling God what to do!" lori100: ------------------ some science fans are disturbed by unconventional thinking by scientists that leans more to philosophy..(the origin of science btw)....such as what really does exist if we aren't looking at it ...and our consciousness affects how particles behave.....freaky....hope some of you can handle it....-------...Does the Universe Exist if We're Not Looking? | DiscoverMagazine.com discovermagazine.com/2002/jun/featuniverse --------------The experiment can be run two ways: with photon detectors right beside each slit that allow physicists to observe the photons as they pass, or with detectors removed, which allows the photons to travel unobserved. When physicists use the photon detectors, the result is unsurprising: Every photon is observed to pass through one slit or the other. The photons, in other words, act like particles. +++ But when the photon detectors are removed, something weird occurs. One would expect to see two distinct clusters of dots on the film, corresponding to where individual photons hit after randomly passing through one slit or theother. Instead, a pattern of alternating light and dark stripes appears. Such a pattern could be produced only if the photons are behaving like waves, with each individual photon spreading out and surging against both slits at once, like a breaker hitting a jetty. Alternating bright stripes in the pattern on the film show where crests from those waves overlap; dark stripes indicate that a crest and a trough have canceled each other. The outcome of the experiment depends on what the physicists try to measure: If they set up detectors beside the slits, the photons act like ordinary particles, always traversing one route or the other, not both at the same time. In that case the striped pattern doesn't appear on the film. But if the physicists remove the detectors, each photon seems to travel both routes simultaneously like a tiny wave, producing the striped pattern. Wheeler has come up with a cosmic-scale version of this experiment that has even weirder implications. Where the classic experiment demonstrates that physicists' observations determine the behavior of a photon in the present, Wheeler's version shows that our observations in the present can affect how a photon behaved in the past. ----------------------some who have non-physical experiences have said just that...we can change the past as well as the future...and we exist in many dimensions simultaneously... Evelyn99: Think the possibility outcome for photons also depends on what “angle they are in “‘motley upright or lying on the side or something in between. Because there is a percent chance on their likely predictable behavior. Exactly what they mean with upright and sideways I’m not sure. Just saw a program on tv on experiments done with photons like they appear to be at two places simultaneously but that is impossible as you can’t break a corner of a single photon.  GothGye: Couldn't care less. What difference would it make to anyone's life whatsoever if light was confirmed to be either a ray or a particle or whatever? What really would it change about the existence of light? How is this even worth thinking about? lol lori100: It means time and physical objects are not as we think they are...that they are indeed an illusion....there is a greater reality..... GothGye: Correct - they are not what most people think , but they are not illusions either . the greater reality is supernatural .and science itself is getting close to showing that . but there will always be haters and deniers of the supernatural that will be shown things and just resort to saying it means its not real ( or an illusion) I'm part physical and I'm not an illusion. And there are physical objects that I can see for myself and you can go see the exact same thing and its there whether you're looking at it or not - like the statue of liberty or a castle at Disney land. They aren't illusions just because some scientists have a different understanding of what they are made from. I think people need to study the definition of the world illusion.. An illusion is something that doesn't really exist. Clearly physical objects exist ..you would be actually delusional or just stupid to think they didn't .. (Edited by GothGye) lori100: the way we perceive it is not correct then...we don't see it as it really is..a mass of energy.. GothGye: I think ultimately we ( and everything else ) is energy ( ultimately) , but it doesn't mean the physicality aspect of us and things is not real .but just different to what was thought of as being .but yeah ,i think people are realising that things really aren't what they were thought to be (Edited by GothGye) Evelyn99: Energy is very much real. Mas is just one form energy can take. Pretty much only masless particles are traveling in a “wave “ it’s really more a trem used to understand why the same massless photon can have so many different properties  RichLoy: light has been figured to be a combination of moister and gas, that come together and creates the light we know of! calybonos: I think I heard about this moist thing. It's a new off-shoot of string theory, known as Sticky Theory. The theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by the wet, one-dimensional underpants of comic book patrons. Evelyn99: Yes so it only appears to us that it’s a particle but it vibrates of tiny strings that everything is made of just vibrate little different. Interesting idea but far from proven as a theory and some of its pioneers like Brain Greene has gown a little bit away from that theory | Science Chat Room 3 People Chatting Similar Conversations |
