26 April 2007

Little big science

What's that you say? You want a physics experiment you can do that will hurt your brain with a clear demonstration of the counterintuitive effects of observation in quantum mechanical behavior? You want an experiment you can perform on your dining room table, with equipment that you can easily buy for yourself at the mall for under ten bucks? With effects you can see plain as day with your own eyes?

No problem. Scientific American has your back.

You want extra credit? Spend a little time with Bell's Inequality, to warm up for the news that the sequel version, Legett's Inequality, has been tested experimentally and it turns out that the universe is not only non-local, it is definitely observer-dependent.

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