Category: Quantum mechanics

In 1982, Alain Aspect sent two simultaneously created photons to opposite-direction spin (polarization) detectors. It turned out that measuring the spin of one photon instantly affects that of the other photon, which will be the opposite. This proved the possibility of the quantum entanglement of elementary particles and quantum teleportation. In 2008, scientists were able to measure the state of quantum-entangled photons at a distance of about 90 miles, and interaction between them was still instantaneous, as if they were at the same place or there was no distance.

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

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

It is believed that if such quantum-entangled photons appear at opposite ends of the Universe, then interaction between them will still be instantaneous, even though it would take tens of billions of years to cover that distance at the speed of light.

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.

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

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

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.

In 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

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

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.

If 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

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

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.

This 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

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