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Quantum mechanics

Quantum tunneling. Quantum mechanics

In 1960, Ivar Giaever conducted experiments on superconductors separated by microscopic film made of aluminum oxide, which does not conduct electricity. It turned out that a portion of the electrons still passed through the insulation. This confirmed the theorized possibility of a quantum tunneling effect.

Quantum tunneling. Quantum mechanics

This applies not only to electricity, but also to all elementary particles: according to quantum physics, they are waves. They can go through a barrier if the width of that barrier is less than the particles’ wavelength. The narrower the barrier, the more often particles can go through it.

The 10 weirdest quantum physics facts

1. Wave function collapse
2. Heisenberg uncertainty principle
3. Meissner effect
4. Superfluidity
5. Quantum tunneling
6. Quantum entanglement
7. Quantum Zeno effect
8. Delayed choice quantum eraser
9. Quantum superposition
10. Quantum Cheshire Cat

From
The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality
by Michael Raduga

The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality

(Download free old version (2011) OR buy the newest one (2015) on Amazon)

Categories
Quantum mechanics

Superfluidity. Quantum mechanics

In 1938, Pyotr Kapitsa cooled liquid helium to a near-zero temperature and discovered that the substance had lost its viscosity. The phenomenon was dubbed “superfluidity.” If you pour liquid helium into a glass, it will still creep up along the sides and drip out of it.

Superfluidity. Quantum mechanicsIn fact, as long as the helium is sufficiently cold, there are no limits to it creeping up and dripping out, regardless of the shape and size of the glass. At the close of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, superfluidity was also discovered in hydrogen and various gases.

The 10 weirdest quantum physics facts

1. Wave function collapse
2. Heisenberg uncertainty principle
3. Meissner effect
4. Superfluidity
5. Quantum tunneling
6. Quantum entanglement
7. Quantum Zeno effect
8. Delayed choice quantum eraser
9. Quantum superposition
10. Quantum Cheshire Cat

From
The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality
by Michael Raduga

The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality

(Download free old version (2011) OR buy the newest one (2015) on Amazon)

Categories
Quantum mechanics

Meissner effect. Quantum mechanics

In 1933, Walther Meissner discovered that in a superconductor that has been cooled down as much as possible, the magnetic field will be expelled. This phenomenon has been dubbed the Meissner effect.

Meissner effect. Quantum mechanicsIf a regular magnet is placed on aluminum (or any other superconductor) that is then cooled using liquid nitrogen, the magnet will levitate and hang in the air, as it will “see” its own magnetic field of the same polarity expelled from the cooled aluminum, and the same sides of magnets repel each other.

The 10 weirdest quantum physics facts

1. Wave function collapse
2. Heisenberg uncertainty principle
3. Meissner effect
4. Superfluidity
5. Quantum tunneling
6. Quantum entanglement
7. Quantum Zeno effect
8. Delayed choice quantum eraser
9. Quantum superposition
10. Quantum Cheshire Cat

From
The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality
by Michael Raduga

The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality

(Download free old version (2011) OR buy the newest one (2015) on Amazon)

Categories
Quantum mechanics

Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Quantum mechanics

Thanks to a 1927 discovery, thousands of scientists and students have repeated one and the same simple experiment by shining a laser through a hole that gradually becomes smaller. Logically, the visible laser point on the projection screen shrinks as the hole contracts. But when the hole becomes narrow enough, the laser point suddenly widens and expands across the screen until the hole closes.

Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Quantum mechanicsThis is the clearest proof of the quintessence of quantum physics – the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which states: The more precisely we define one of a pair of properties in a quantum system, the more uncertain the other property becomes. In this case, the more precisely we define the position of the laser photons by making the hole smaller, the more uncertain their momentum becomes.

The 10 weirdest quantum physics facts

1. Wave function collapse
2. Heisenberg uncertainty principle
3. Meissner effect
4. Superfluidity
5. Quantum tunneling
6. Quantum entanglement
7. Quantum Zeno effect
8. Delayed choice quantum eraser
9. Quantum superposition
10. Quantum Cheshire Cat

From
The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality
by Michael Raduga

The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality

(Download free old version (2011) OR buy the newest one (2015) on Amazon)

Categories
Quantum mechanics

Wave function collapse. Quantum mechanics

In 1803, Thomas Young sent a beam of light through an opaque plate with two slits in it. Instead of seeing the expected two lines on the viewing screen, he saw several lines, as if two waves of light from the two slits had been interfering (overlapping) with each other. Over the 20th and 21st centuries, it has been proven that not only light, but also individual elementary particles and even some molecules behave as waves – as if they were going through both slits at the same time.

Wave function collapse. Quantum mechanicsHowever, if you place a sensor at the slits that observes what exactly happens to the particle at that point, and which slit it finally ends up going through, then only two lines will appear on the projection screen, as if the fact of observation (indirect influence) collapses the wave function and the experiment subject behaves as a particle.

The 10 weirdest quantum physics facts

1. Wave function collapse
2. Heisenberg uncertainty principle
3. Meissner effect
4. Superfluidity
5. Quantum tunneling
6. Quantum entanglement
7. Quantum Zeno effect
8. Delayed choice quantum eraser
9. Quantum superposition
10. Quantum Cheshire Cat

From
The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality
by Michael Raduga

The Phase. Shattering the Illusion of Reality

(Download free old version (2011) OR buy the newest one (2015) on Amazon)