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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Content: 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. The converse is true too, that if you measure it's position you have an inherent uncertainty in the momentum. I suggest looking up the double slit experiment if you would like a visual example of this. Many videos of this exist. Share
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answered Apr 11 '13 at 2:18
Steven Walton
Steven Walton
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You have touched on something of an unsolved problem in physics or philosophy of physics (depending on who you ask). It is not at all clear what counts as a 'measurement' of a quantum state.