Quote Originally Posted by mrdevious
Particles at the quantum level have their paths altered by observation because observation requires a reflection of light particles off the observed particle and into the eye. The light particle which strikes the observed subatomic particle alters it's course by hitting it and coming back to you, thus allowing you to observe it, but does not determine the very notion of it having a course in the first place.
i've read ur post a few times and my brain hurts
surely light particles would be hitting the particle regardless of whether or not u were looking at it - and if u did look at it then u'd be utilising those same light particles....no?? quantum stuff is really weird.....
my other favorite experiment is the entanglement one where they entangle then seperate particles - but they remain connected so changes to one effect the other.....that's pretty hard to understand too - almost as though they share a "consiousness" - so one is aware of what the other is doing....

stranger than fiction
andyandy Reviewed by andyandy on . quantum mechanics and god The observer effect and its significance...... The observer effect is when the act of observing changes that which is being observed.... if you observe a particle you will change its path....and therefore in quantum mechanics, if the outcome of an event has not been observed, it exists in a state of superposition...ie. It exists in all possible states at once...... Now this raises the truly mind blowing question - that at the quantum level do all events have to be observed in order to Rating: 5