Title: quantum mechanics - Observer effect, do this mean literally someone or just any interaction with other matter? - Physics Stack Exchange
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Observer effect, do this mean literally someone or just any interaction with other matter?
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answered Aug 9 '13 at 18:42
Gwilymino
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This "observation" is actually just a more simple way to state the uncertainty principle. For a one dimensional case involving momentum and position it would be as follows. Δ x Δ p ≥ h
This means that if we know the position exactly then we don't know the momentum. For energy and time it would be
Δ E Δ t ≥ ℏ 2
Basically what these mean is that there is a certain amount of maximum precision that we can make. If we knew the energy exactly ( Δ E = 0) then we know that Δ t is AT LEAST ℏ 2. This is the problem with quantum mechanics (and is misinterpreted by many people). Observing is actually an act of measuring. There is a wave particle duality that goes on in qm. Think of a particle existing along a wave. It is not too difficult to find the momentum of a wave, but by measuring this you know that it is a wave, and lose information about where it is.