Eli5: what is superposition of particles and how is it possible?
In: Physics
Essentially there is some uncertainty associated with a particles momentum and position. You can either know its position and very little about its momentum or know its momentum and very little about where it is. In this way its a balancing act of determining a rough area of where a particle is likely to be and a rough estimate of where its likely to go.
This is part of the basis for superposition in that you cant make accurate predictions about both properties so at any one time it could be anywhere (within reason) and going any direction (also within reason).
Edit: More background. By doing so much as looking at, measuring, or otherwise interacting with a particle, you force its “wave function” to “collapse”, which is just fancy talk for forcing the particle to make a decision about where it is. Any disturbance, however brief, causes superposition to be violated and results in “the most likely” outcome. (Don’t think too much about that).
A popular thought expirement for this is schrodingers cat:
Imagine a cat in a soundproof box with a poison vial inside attached to a radiation monitor. The vial breaks (silently) if a single atom inside the box decays.
Because of the uncertainty associated with subatomic particles (mainly position), it may spontaneously be disturbed at just the right moment that the area its “likely” to be in extends beyond the wall of the atom and can possibly “jump” out, causing atomic decay. Because there’s no telling when that will happen, in between the time you close the box and open it to see if the cat is alive, the life of the cat is in superposition.
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