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Old 11-09-2007, 08:03 PM
madnak madnak is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn (Red Hook)
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Default Re: Do I Misunderstand The Double Slit Experiment

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe I am slow but I still do not understand what will happen here. I can't see an interference pattern because the observer would be able to look at the experiment a minute later and see which slit the electrons went through. (Which would be both if there is an interference pattern)

If I see a particle-type pattern, then that would seem to indicate that the light forced a wave collapse whether or not the light was observed. I was taught that this will not happen if the light is not observed.

The only other possibility I can think of is that the observation one minute in the future caused a collapse, which seems impossible.

[/ QUOTE ]

How are you observing the photons passing through the slit from so far away? I don't think a telescope is sufficient. Based on my understanding, you have to actively interfere with the experiment in order to observe those photons, which is the issue. If you're a light-minute away, you can't interfere with the experiment. If observation is happening then it must happen before the photons enter the slits - it might take a minute for information about the observation to reach you, but that's just "lag." If nobody is "getting their hands dirty" at the location of the experiment, I think you'll just see a wave-like interference pattern through a telescope.
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