Open Thread

My niece just got accepted to the peace corp. She is from Chicago, but not a moonface.

quote:
I wore something very similar at my debutante ball in 1980.

:-/ for reals?

*rob*

Sorry, MM – I’d only met the moonface americorps volunteers before and they were a bit self-righteous so it irked me.

FWIW, there was a disproportionate amount of midwesterns doing peace corps.

For sure! I wore something very similar at my debutante ball in 1980.

I wanted to wear the drapes to my cotillion, but they force me to wear the white gown

ok
back now,

Here’s a summary of what I’m trying to say in my convoluted manner.
Simply that applying real world probability expectations to the sub-atomic level don’t get the expected results:

“Copenhagen interpretation

The Copenhagen interpretation is an interpretation of quantum mechanics. A key feature of quantum mechanics is that the state of every particle can be described by a wavefunction, which is a mathematical representation used to calculate the probability that the particle is found to be in a location…
is a consensus among some of the pioneers in the field of quantum mechanics that it is undesirable to posit anything that goes beyond the mathematical formulae and the kinds of physical apparatus and reactions that enable us to gain some knowledge of what goes on at the atomic scale. One of the mathematical constructs that enables experimenters to predict very accurately certain experimental results is sometimes called a probability wave. In its mathematical form it is analogous to the description of a physical wave, but its “crests” and “troughs” indicate levels of probability for the occurrence of certain phenomena (e.g., a spark of light at a certain point on a detector screen) that can be observed in the macro world of ordinary human experience.

The probability “wave” can be said to “pass through space” because the probability values that one can compute from its mathematical representation are dependent on time. One cannot speak of the location of any particle such as a photon between the time it is emitted and the time it is detected simply because in order to say that something is located somewhere at a certain time one has to detect it (of course, since photons travel at a known speed (the speed of light) at any given time (stated to Planck accuracy) you can calculate (to within Planck distance) where the ‘probability’ field is ‘centered’, but until the particle is detected, you can not be certain ‘exactly’ where it is). The requirement for the eventual appearance of an interference pattern is that particles be emitted, and that there be a screen with at least two slits between the emitter and the detection screen. Experiments observe nothing whatsoever between the time of emission of the particle and its arrival at the detection screen. However, it is essential that both slits be an equal distance from the center line, and that they be within a certain maximum distance of each other that is related to the wavelengthWavelengthIn physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave – the distance over which the wave’s shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a…
of the particle being emitted. If a ray tracing is then made as if a light wave as understood in classical
physics is wide enough to encounter both slits and passes through both of them, then that ray tracing will accurately predict the appearance of maxima and minima on the detector screen when many particles pass through the apparatus and gradually “paint” the expected interference pattern.”

That’s what I’m trying to say when I post:
“the photon occupies all probabilities at once,
until detected.”