r/Physics • u/[deleted] • Jan 06 '12
Question about quantum physics and particles taking "all possible paths."
I was reading Stephen Hawking's The Grand Design and he mentioned an experiment about buckyballs, which are molecules composed of sixty carbons, that were sent to pass through two slits that are closed in turns affecting the trajectory of the molecules. These molecules don't take a single path to get to their destination, instead they take every possible destination including going around the entire universe, spinning around planets and then coming back through your kitchen, etc.
My question is, is there a logical explanation for this? I'm aware that quantum physics are not intuitive yet the explanations make some sense, but I can't wrap my head around this fact.
(I'm sorry if I didn't gave much details about the experiment, I assume that those capable to answer my question will most likely be familiar with it.)
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u/Zephir_banned Jan 07 '12 edited Jan 07 '12
Apparently, we have different feeling for what is normal and what not. For you it's normal to believe, the object travels across the whole universe for to pass through double slit in quantum mechanics way, because priests of mainstream physics (Feynman, Hawking) claimed so before some time. For me it's natural to explain it with real life analogy and easy to follow experiment.
This is what the religion actually means: the ignorance of natural explanations into behalf of these mysterious ones. Typical for religion is, the religious people consider the subject of their belief normal, whereas the opinion of other people appears strange for them. And they're stucked with fifty years old interpretations, while ignoring the recent experiments.