Does the experiment where a single photon goes through 2 slits really show the universe is constantly dividing into alternate realities?

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Probably not well worded (bad at Physics!)

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Not really. But it’s a very difficult concept to explain and wrap your head around, so i’ll give it a go. The problem is “superposition”

So we have our two slits, and we have our photon launcher. It’s going to launch one photon at the two slits. We fire it.

Normal physics would say it would go through one, or the other. Quantum physics says the photon is in a superposition, in other words, its in both positions at once. Or it has the potential to be in both at once. But that doesnt mean its created two universes, one where it went left, and one where it went right. It did both in our universe, despite how weird that seems, and only when we observe the results does the superposition “collapse” into one or the other.

Think of it like tossing a coin. You toss it, and place your hand over it without checking. If the coin were a photon, it would be in a superposition, both heads and tails, until we look and see which one it is. If we don’t look, it doesnt make two universes so both can be true. It just remains both simultaniously.

This is weird. Very weird. And defies our understanding of non-quantum physics. Which is why its so interesting. It shouldnt be able to be both at once, yet it is.

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