Quantum Superposition, Explained Without Woo Woo
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2024
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A common phrase in quantum mechanics is: "The electron is in multiple states at the same time." But it's actually a lie. Quantum particles like electrons are never in multiple states at the same time. It's just that most quantum states don’t make sense to us.
00:00 Cold Open
00:28 Quantum Spin
01:02 Ball Analogy
02:46 Vector Spaces
04:59 Quantum States
06:58 Quantum Measurement
09:24 Bra-Ket Notation
10:31 Summary
11:23 Outro
11:46 Sponsor Segment
12:52 Featured Comment
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Pog
So, we should drop the "superposition" term, or use it everywhere... like: we live in a superposition of space dimensions which happens to be 3 and to be orthogonal to each other.... So, when you walk, you do it along the superposition of these dimensions...
Hey great job. I need to contact you because i had formed a similar hypothesis like you did before 1 year ago which solved many problems of quantum mechanics so please tell me the way i can contact you
Following the analogy... It means that you can "align" the measuring device, so it always measure along the quantum state and give it's mixed Smooth-Rough value 100% of the time? ... For measuring other states 100% of the time by one end, you would need to re-aling your measuring device
Please make a video about how attraction forces work?
Up until now, I've never seen someone explain quantum mechanics in a way that actually left me thinking "that makes sense." Thanks for making me feel a bit smarter than I was before.
If quantum mechanics makes sense to you, then you don't understand it (paraphrasing Richard Feynman.)
Corollary: If someone thinks he explained quantum mechanics in a way that it makes sense, then that person doesn't understand it either.
@@raphaelklaussen1951 Feynman didn't literally meant that
And QM and can be understood Feynman understood it he was just being Humble
@@alice_in_wonderland42 What we call "understanding" is actually a mental state of acceptance. For Physicists, this means no conflict with previously learned and accepted principles (conservation laws, etc.)
By the way, since we are on this topic, the hypothesis of the video is incorrect. The concept of a vector rests on the very idea of superposition. A vector pointing North-West is the superposition of one vectors, one pointing North and the other pointing West.
Cheers.
@@alice_in_wonderland42 This. It was a "first day of class" greeting to prepare the minds of university students. It's humor. Context matters; I'm not sure why people mythologize instinctively, even with short and inconsequential phrases.
@@alice_in_wonderland42 Sure you can understand the mathematics involved, but I don't think anyone can truly mentally conceptualise it - that's what he means. That's why it has to be explained in metaphors like this video does with rough/smooth ball detectors, Schrodinger's cat, and my new favourite, the cube attached to ribbons that makes a single full rotation by spinning 720 degrees. The world of quantum mechanics is truly a topsy turvy curly wurly inside out and upside down thing.
It has always driven me nuts when someone says "particles can be in multiple states at the same time" because it makes it sound like quantum mechanics is mystical or magic when it's not. It's really unfortunate because it also plays into the myth that quantum mechanics cannot be understood on some level. This explanation was excellent.
The whole universe with all of his properties a pure magic 🪄, and this is still a understatement.
quantum entanglement is mystical or magical to me still. Has The Science Asylum demystified that yet?
@@boogieboss I dunno about your universe, but my universe is a girl.
@@polychoron What about us grils?
Nobody is trying to make quantum mechanics sound mystical or magical. If you find the notion that subatomic entities are waves that occupy a big chunk of space but once measured they "collapse" into well-defined "objects" that occupy one particular spot to be magical, then blame yourself, not those who describe reality.
Looking at that Vector graph with the rough and smooth axis suddenly made it click in my head and hit me like a ton of bricks why it's so completely useful to use complex numbers to represent Quantum States. Holy crap it makes so much sense now! Thank you!
Glad I could help! 🤓
@@ScienceAsylum - Do you fully appreciate how many lives you have improved by making videos that allow people to grasp concepts in very difficult fields? I hope you understand the positive impact you have had on the world, you have a life well spent. And you are an inspiration to us with autism, it shows we aren't limited by our difficulty with social interactions. Thanks man. You are a legend.
@EvilSandwich can you please explain why it's so completely useful to use complex numbers to represent quantum states?
@@-uziroy3 - Using complex numbers basically gives you a 2d plane while making it simple and elegant. So you can represent a full wave that way.
@@-uziroy3 It also, if those states are chosen carefully, allows us to convert between trigonometric and exponential functions, allowing us to solve equations we couldn't otherwise solve.
Outstanding explanation! There are a lot of smart scientists out there but very few can break it down to a layman’s level like this. You’re doing more for science than you can imagine!
GREAT!! BUT!! If you really are like this, try to at least roughly explain the essence of the screenshot of my mystical online ROULETTE game, depicted on my icon??? HM...?
This is the SECRET of all SECRETS, isn't it?
***
Consciousness has the property of creating reality. You can influence the creation process. Any method of influence is just a way of influencing the process, the process itself cannot be changed.
I always accepted this concepts of quantim superposition without giving it much of a thought, since I'm not a physisit it really didn't matter that much to me, but as a mathematician I love this concept, it is waaaay easier to understand and makes absolute sense to me. So thank you Nick
The infinite spectrum of superpositions between smoothe and rough. The infinite number of quantifiable single states. That's a tongue twister...
If you are a mathematician, just know that the video misleads a bit in order to not intimidate the audience: The vector space is actually a complex vector space. Where he says the probability is proportional to the square of something, it's the square of the modulus of that thing. It took me a long time to figure out this basic fact about quantum mechanics, because physicists will most of the time mislead you in this kind of way.
You'd probably find the first chapter of "Modern Quantum Mechanics" by Sakurai interesting. It focuses on this formalism (ie: it's mostly linear algebra : p), and I think it's pretty accessible to someone with a background on math.
@@alonamaloh can you explain that simply?
If we're recommending books: I recommend Surján Péter: "Introduction to Second Quantized formalism" once you got a basic grasp on introductory quantum mechanics. It will equip you with very powerful mathematics for dealing with multiple particles.
nick i cannot overstate how much i love this and your channel in general. the way you manage to take unintuitive concepts that are generally regarded as "impossible to grasp if you're not in the field" and actually explain them without oversimplifying to the point of inaccuracy the way they're often presented shows the incredible pedagogical talent you have developed, and i'm unimaginably thankful for having found your channel
Thanks! 🤓
@@ScienceAsylum That emoji looks like your 'nerd clone' 😀
@@pratikdedhia Ha. So true
@@pratikdedhia Haha Ikr
It makes us happy doenst? By far my favorite channel in the whole internet!
I just can't imagine a more intuitive way to understand this. As for the quality of the video animations... there are no words to describe how well done all this is. Thank you very much!
You're welcome! Glad you liked it.
The version I was taught used sphere and cube as the two basis vectors. The superposition was drawn as a smoothed cube (or a flattened sphere).
The detector was drawn like one of those playdough toys that squeezes the playdough out of a shaped hole.
This extends to multiple states by drawing the detector with a round hole, a square hole, a triangle hole, a star hole, and so forth.
Avoids having to talk about rough balls and smooth bras :P
Science-Denial comes in Huge Waves and always has come in huge Waves from Religion
or at least Unhealthy Religion;
a Thing that Atheist-TH-camrs criticize and cover.
I hope you give me one single Chance to convince you 'Smart+Funny'
is what they are, when i now recommend you Holy Koolaids Video-Series
"Revising Gods Prophecy".
My comment is random but meant so share Sicence-Fun,
so c'mon, give me this 1 Chance to convince you Atheist-Content can make
you laugh and/or keep you Updated.
They all go in the square hole though
"we're going to be traveling light" if not that scene with laughter i wouldnt even realize the wordplay
When I heard it I uttered "agh" and a split second later I saw "agh" on the screen.
A good pun is what it is.
I'm even only getting it now. I think.
Just like the photon: we are going to be traveling light....
(Photons are traveling light)
Edit: (and have no mass)
Where was the drum roll?
I didn't get the pun until I pondered your comment for a good half minute... the Agh finally makes sense!
8 years after graduating and going into a career that has nothing to do with physics, I thought my PHYS 486 knowledge was lost forever. But this video, even though it's fairly high level, brought back SO much; much more than I thought it would. I'm with Nerd Clone wanting a video on eigenvectors now.
I also await eigenvector with baited breath
3blue1brown did a video on them several years ago as part of their 'Essence of Linear Algebra" series. It doesn't have the same tone and style as Nick's videos, but it is really good. 3b1b in general is really good an explaining math concepts intuitively using both animations and verbal explanations. th-cam.com/video/PFDu9oVAE-g/w-d-xo.html
@@garetclaborn 3blue1brown did a video on them several years ago as part of their 'Essence of Linear Algebra" series. It doesn't have the same tone and style as Nick's videos, but it is really good. 3b1b in general is really good an explaining math concepts intuitively using both animations and verbal explanations. th-cam.com/video/PFDu9oVAE-g/w-d-xo.html
Thank you. I struggled with the perception of things existing in Superposition. Just because we can think of it like that, doesn't mean things have to be until we observe them.
actually, when the orb goes through the detector they become entangled and in a superposition of the orb leaving both ways. it’s only when the orb and the detector interact with the environment the two options decohere, wave function can no longer “flow” from both to a shared state. being part of the environment we find ourselves on one side of the split. the probabilities work as described though ;)
Isn’t that simply the ‘Copenhagen interpretation’, and as such only one of a number of possible interpretations of quantum mechanics?
…Please don’t slay me for asking btw, I am but one simple layman among a great many.
You are an amazing science communicator. Thank you for your hard work.
Nick has the Best Science Channel on TH-cam! 😀
I always thought quantum mechanics was something I could never understand, but I think you've completely changed my mindset with one video. I'm not saying I truly understand it, but this is the first time anything about quantum mechanics has made some amount of sense to me. Great video
Glad I could help! 🤓
They say if you think you understand quantum physics then you probably don't. So you are on the right track if you say you don't truly understand it. :)
@@ScienceAsylum Can you make a video or just answer me, what would happen when magnitude fights a vector? I meant to imply that magnitude and vector can change/fight each other? Does changing the magnitude can change vector and vice versa?
You are one of the very few physicists in the world that actually understands physics to a level that can be explained to a child.
FINALLY there is a smart person that knows how to effectively communicate and impart complex information to us, the simple minded masses despite our short attention spans. Very well done indeed!
Glad you liked it! 🤓
My man's really pondering the orb right now.
Also, that "smooth vs rough" vector space seems to imply the properties of negative smoothness and negative roughness.
Ah, but he said it was just a metaphor. Since we really can't say exactly what a _state_ is, implying it's negative would be really hard to accept. Quantum mechanics, I don't care if it makes sense shut up and calculate.
Not really, quantum amplitudes are separate from the properties of the states. Also, multiplying a state vector by a complex number of length 1 doesn't change the probabilities of observing any outcome so |x> and -|x> are the same state. Amplitudes only matter when things interact, e.g. you could have destructive interference between |x> and -|x> if you had to add them during some calculation.
It is kind of like an "affine" state if you have heard that word. In essence, if you draw a line that crosses the tip of the point and the origin, that line represents the state.
@@alexrecuenco the term is actually projective, not affine: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_projective_space
The negative smoothness is _technically_ different from positive smoothness, but it only matters during interference because of the square.
Finally someone said it!! It's not a superposition of states. It's only 1 quantum state. It's a superposition of classical states, or of observable states...
Exactly!
It is just so weird. Why does it always collapse into one state? Bell's theorem implies that there are no hidden variables (among other possibilities like non-locality), so everything is truly probabilistic. Why is it probabilistic at the quantum level? When a wave function collapses into one of its probable states or positions, is it instantaneous or does it take time for it to happen?
@@ElectronFieldPulse Maybe because our mind cannot think in superposition ;) so we get entangled with one result (and our other multiversal-self with another). There are multiple interpretations of it, I have just used many-worlds although I myself prefer Copenhagen's: reality is inherently random (within rules and probability). Why? I don't know. Why gravity is and why time flows in one direction? I don't know, it just seems to be this way, the theory gives good predictions.
@@firdacz - Ya, I am not sure it will ever be possible to declare that rhe CI or the MWT is correct. I don't think we can test for it.
Not really, it's not a superposition of *classical* states, it's a superposition of states with *some* measurables having definite values. E.g. a classical state of a point particle would have both definite position and momentum, but no quantum state can have such a property because a state with definite position would also be a superposition of states with different values of momentum and vice versa.
Although some topics are difficult to understand, ur humorous voice & way of conveying makes it easier to listen n understand. u became
my fav science communicator.
Amazing that you could explain this so well. Even my old physics profs and books for the lay person use analogy to explain superposition. Now, take that leap and apply this easy to understand logic to quantum entanglement/bell's theorem!
GREAT!! BUT!! If you really are like this, try to at least roughly explain the essence of the screenshot of my mystical online ROULETTE game, depicted on my icon??? HM...?
This is the SECRET of all SECRETS, isn't it?
***
Consciousness has the property of creating reality. You can influence the creation process. Any method of influence is just a way of influencing the process, the process itself cannot be changed.
here and now@@ashifarman4813
This makes more sense than any other superposition videos I have watched in 10 years
The bra vector isn't important until we start taking measurements :)
Glad I'm not the only one 😂
😂
I didn’t get all of what was said in the video so I’m content with getting this joke. I guess I’m more a real world guy than a QM guy.
Hands seem best for this measurement despite their bias.
@@brothermine2292 Warm hands.
This is the first video that actually made me understand this. When you said we were doing away with spin and electrons, I knew it was going to be good.
"Oh no, here it comes" said my brain as I clicked this link. Nick, you're going to be so disappointed in me (or maybe not). At this point in time, I am a quantum mechanics skeptic, because of the application of Occam's Razor. "Particles can phase in and out of existence spontaneously!", "information can travel faster than the speed of light!", "consciousness is somehow intrinsically linked to physics and collapsing the wave function of a double slit experiment actually supports quantum theory!"
... Those sound like fantastical claims to me, and you taught me better than that. Absurd claims in physics need to be held to absurd amounts of rigor, the likes of which we do not yet have the technology to hold quantum mechanics to.
"I called in back up" holy damn, I'm cracking up. I love how complex your clone world keeps getting.
Wow, it feels like the superposition is on a Hawking's radiation level of "simplified to make it misleading".
I love this channel
It is starting to sound like someone gets some profit from this.
In my opinion, one of the biggest issues with this analogy is that it kinda seems as though the "quantum particle" is in some pre-determined and specific state in the basis. But that isn't accurate at all. In general, simplifying a quantum in superposition to a particle is not a great approximation of reality.
@@thestralspirit He said pretty clearly that it is based on statistical probability, so I am not sure where you got that interpretation from.
@@okaydetar821 to me it sounded like the quantum had some exact probability. It cannot have defined magnitudes on both axes and to me this video doesn't make that clear.
It's not like I think the analogy is terrible, but it isn't really describing the wave-like nature of quantum.
@@thestralspirit Perhaps I misunderstood what you meant, but the exact probability IS well defined by the wave function of a given sytem.
Nick, mysteries become obvious when YOU explain them! Love it!
You always find the best analogies to get your point across.
Also
*Texture detector, texture detector, texture detector*
That makes way more sense than being in multiple states. An electron could absolutely be moving 30% left and 70% right if it's moving 100% in a vector that can only be calculated by us to be 30% left and 70% right. Once we launch it against something to see if it's 100% left or right we knock it into one of those. I suppose an interference pattern could then be caused by blocking a specific range of vectors it could be following causing any that would be moving along those to change directions, and while it looks like it's interfering with itself reality is that we merely blocked a vector range that makes it look as such.
but your not blocking the electrons in the double slit experiment, you just measure where they hit the screen.
@Fritzzz3 We could be blocking superposition vectors without blocking basic vectors.
@@chiepah2 But to "block" any of the vectors you would have to measure a property of the system along a specific axis, eliminating aspects along different axes. Here, we are just measuring the end position of the electron. That's the exact point of the double slit experiment: The probability function of the electron interferes with itself. This does not mean that there are multiple states of the electron that interfere with one another.
It is this entity of a wave function (or vector, just different formulations of the same reality) that interferes with itself as it evolves through time.
@@fritzzz1372 I'll be honest, I don't fully understand the concept I'm thinking of so I can't fully explain it. We are trying to pinpoint the position of an electron along an xyz axis, but for some reason we can calculate that it has multiple true xyz coordinates(with some degree of probability). This could be because of where it is on it's q axis, and it's orientation along that axis makes it cross multiple points on the xyz plane (field? space?). In the double slit experiment the setup may not allow some orientations along the q axis and therefore the electron is forced to adjust to fit along that axis the same way liquid is forced to adjust to fit though a funnel.
@@chiepah2 If that is what you mean, the wave function (or vector in Hilbert Space, physically the same thing) is forced to adapt to the shape of the slits because of the potential wall. (uncrossable barrier except where the slits are)
What do you mean with the q axis though?
Thanks Nick! This really cleared up the superposition myth that has permeated all of physics. I'm a former computer programmer (but not much math), but I'm learning so much from your channel. On the question of German, I had three months of German in 10th grade, then we moved to a school that didn't have German as a course. I'm going to use Babble to continue my learning. Thanks for this wonderful double whammy of excellence!
GREAT!! BUT!! If you really are like this, try to at least roughly explain the essence of the screenshot of my mystical online ROULETTE game, depicted on my icon??? HM...?
This is the SECRET of all SECRETS, isn't it?
***
Consciousness has the property of creating reality. You can influence the creation process. Any method of influence is just a way of influencing the process, the process itself cannot be changed.
computer programmer (but not much math) BRUH programming is a branch of math, u are just being humble
You can very much program without much math. Source: I'm a programmer lol
The connection with vector spaces omg it was awesome! Thank you so much. ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you! Yes, this helped a LOT. I have been wracking my brains for years trying to figure this out. I am very literal in the way I interpret linguistic meaning so your explanation helped tremendously.
the point where it really clicked for me is the cookie's momentum having only one state in spite of having two component vectos along the axes
Bohr's philosophy physics, if you really get into it, allows you to intuit the nature of this phenomenon really, really well. Nick, you did a great job at breaking down the primary misconception in popular parlance about superposition, but when you really dig into what Bohr was trying to espouse during the birth of this whole field you realize where most people lost the plot, especially anyone who ever said "shut up and calculate". Yes, particles are only in one quantum state at a time, best represented by the vectors of a probabilistic wave function composed of a superposition of complex states, but the POINT, is that those states are ONTOLOGICALLY, not epistemologically, complementary. The Heisenberg uncertainty should have been called the indeterminacy principle because it has nothing to do with our inability to NOT KNOW, and everything to do with complementary features of nature that form reality having mutually exclusive effects on the rest of nature upon each interaction, creating meaning only BY INTERACTING, meaning that quantum particles are not things as we understand them but are more so phenomena constantly in the process of manifesting through their relation to everything around them. To think about particles as deterministic objects with objectively defined characteristics at all times is to misunderstand the instructive lessons of QM.
When a detector of any sort measures a particle, it is physically interacting with it, and the differences between the experimental set ups required to enact differential cartesian "cuts" between the observer and the observed, fundamentally exclude access to information about the complex makeup of the former quantum superposition. The crux is that this has NOTHING to do with humans, or our experiments, or our theories. That would make the question of what happens in quantum superposition and afterwards about our knowledge. The complementary nature of quantum phenomena extends to every piece of universe itself. We are not special because we've figured any of this out. All the detectors we use to probe nature are made of nature, it's all the same STUFF. Between the interactions of countless particles that "decohere" to form our world, the universe finds itself excluded from the totality of information about states before and after they've interacted. Someone else below in the comments asked if the orb stays rough or smooth after measurement. If you take this to heart, you immediately understand that the wavefunction begins to smear once again after measurement, and traverse the phase space of possible vectors, until the next "measurement" forces an interaction, and again, and again. There are reasons why you could expect a smooth orb to stay smooth time and again, but its not because it IS smooth outside of an interaction to manifests that smoothness at a scale at which we can read in our medium sized world. This was proven in one of the landmark experiments that Bohr and Einstein could have only wished they'd lived to see: Bell's Inequality, which demonstrates that quantum particles are indeed indeterminate between interactions. Quantum superpostions ARE something singular (if they weren't their probabilities would add to more than one) but that something is probabilistically undefined whether we're looking or not.
what can i read to understand Bohr's philosophy of physics?
@@hasanathasan4651 Look up Meeting the Universe Halfway by Karen Barad. It's not an easy read, but its worth it.
" where most people lost the plot, especially anyone who ever said "shut up and calculate"." I'm genuinely quite angry about these people. I lost interest in science as a teenager because of the terrible way the Quantum Mechanics was introduced. It had been my favourite subject up till then. It's only now about 15 years later that I'm learning again how wonderful it is.
" inability to NOT KNOW" What does this mean? We seem perfectly able to not know.
i don't understand. what are they, or where are they, before an interaction (the "particles")? and do we know why/how the interaction changes them (again, the "particles")?
You're the first person to successfully explain a quantum superposition to me, "successfully" meaning that I (think I) understood. Thank you very much for that!
This channel is pure gold. Awesome video. Informative and entertaining.
I have my introduction to quantum physics course next semester and I feel like your videos really give me an edge in the reasoning behind the concepts. I just love how completely radical thinking is required for this stuff! You're a gem mate!
Good luck with the quantum course!
That has really taught me something I didn’t know or understand before. I love the way you have simplified this concept and the fact that there is only one state described in vector form. Thank you.
Happy to help 🤓
This is one of the best materials out there! Keep the good job man!
Don't know how I missed this one. This is the most straight forward thing I've ever seen on qm. Good one, Nick
Thanks! Glad you liked it 🤓
I find polarization of light to be more intuitive to understand when it comes to superposition and the fact that a superposition is a single state. But this example really helped me get away from the idea that the properties in superposition must have some interpretation in spatial dimensions.
This is fantastic! When teaching undergrad general physics, I didn't realize bra-ket notation could be introduced in such an inutivite way
GREAT!! BUT!! If you really are like this, try to at least roughly explain the essence of the screenshot of my mystical online ROULETTE game, depicted on my icon??? HM...?
This is the SECRET of all SECRETS, isn't it?
***
Consciousness has the property of creating reality. You can influence the creation process. Any method of influence is just a way of influencing the process, the process itself cannot be changed.
Great video! Looking forward for the _Eigenthings_ video
Finally someone Who explains Quantum Mechanics right!
The best explanation of superposition ever. I am interested in quantum computing and no one has made plain where the many many possibilities derive from. This makes it crystal clear. Thank you and please continue the outstanding work.
For the uninitiated mathematicians watching, the "Hilbert" space used to represent quantum states is actually a *projective* Hilbert space where the "ket" vectors have unit magnitude/norm. This is done so that when the dual-space "bra" vectors are used to create inner products, such inner products yield values having complex magnitudes less than or equal to 1. Norm-squaring these inner products give probabilites as shown in the video.
The projective Hilbert space model also gives us global phase invariance, because in addition to normalizing the vectors (which gives you a hypersphere) you also need to take a quotient by the action of U(1), which gives phase invariance.
@@noobyfromhell: Exactly. I was about to write the same.
I don’t know what the replies mean but sound cool. I just about get the ‘norm squaring’ I think if it refers to the example in the video.
Minor correction: It's just the norm, not the norm squared. The norm is itself the square of the magnitude.
@@JivanPal When you compute the inner product of an input state ket with a bra that represents an output state vector, you need to multiply their inner product with it's complex conjugate to obtain a probability of that outcome. The norm is the magnitude of the inner product. The "norm-squared" gives the probability.
Man, this was an insanely brilliant and robust explanation. Thank you!
This is my favorite channel. Would be nice if you do a video on “Superdeterminism”
Very well explained, although now I really want an Eigen vector video.
Kahn Academy actually has a video on Eigenvectors. As does 3b1b....which is excellent.
As someone with a limited background in modern physics (electronic engineering degree) but an insatiable fascination acquired later in life, I'm constantly consuming "physics for dummies" content. For me, most of it is repetition at this point, so my hope each time is that the content provides some new way to think about a difficult concept - something I haven't already read or heard a hundred times. That way there's a small chance that I'll gain a tiny sliver of new understanding. To be sure, it's an inefficient way to learn, but when it happens, it's SO satisfying. This video is an example of such content. Thank you so much, Mr. Lucid!
Glad I could help 🤓
It certainly clarifies how physicists think, which is helpful. My biggest issues with QM are I don't think it's *explained* the right away, but you do it!
QM is not interpreted the right way either! So we have no hope 😂
Love ❤️ your channel & presentations!
I think it really comes down to how you define a “state”. Of course the system is always in a single “state” however complex that state might be. But we can also see the state as the combination of several states. That is what we call “superposition”. More or less, a quantum particle is always in a superposition, whatever state it’s in, due to the uncertainty principle.
However, there exists the simplest, most statistically accurate state that cannot be seen as the combination of simpler states. That is the ground state of QHO, which meets the limit of uncertainty principle.
His point is that a combination of multiple states is still one state. In the same way that, e.g. wouldn't say that 10 is multiple different numbers just because 10=2+5=1+9=8+2, etc., The sum of two states is still one state. Or, perhaps more aptly, even though a vector can be written using two scalars, it's still just a single object. It's like the velocity vector he shows at 5:54 -- you can break it up into two other vectors, one on the x axis and one on the y axis, and that's totally mathematically valid, but it's still just one vector and there's still just one velocity.
GREAT!! BUT!! If you really are like this, try to at least roughly explain the essence of the screenshot of my mystical online ROULETTE game, depicted on my icon??? HM...?
This is the SECRET of all SECRETS, isn't it?
***
Consciousness has the property of creating reality. You can influence the creation process. Any method of influence is just a way of influencing the process, the process itself cannot be changed.
@@yamesotericist4188 Are you trolling? The whole point of the video is that quantum mechanics doesn't require anything mystical - it's just counterintuitive.
And consciousness has nothing to do with it at all. That's just woo woo.
@@yamesotericist4188 your kool-aid is getting warm
That was the coolest explanation about double slit experiment and wave functions I ever seen!
Please do a video on eigenstates it would be fantastic coming from you!
Great explanation. You just simplified it. Thanks a lot
I've watched a lot you tube on superposition. This one totally nailed it for me. I feel like I get it a little bit. Who knows if tomorrow I'll be baffled again, lol. Also that cursed bra-ket thing I even understand just a little, tiny bit :) I love this channel. Thank you!
Glad I could help! 🤓
This was a wonderfully enlightening video. This concept actually kind of makes sense now. Thanks for the great science!
@TheScienceAsylum, great video! can you extend this method of explaining quantum states to describe the double-slit experiment?
It works the same way for the double slit, but the basis states are: | Slit 1 > and | Slit 2 >
I've already seen this... but thanks I LOVE it!
Great video, this reminds me why I love physics. More specifically in the case of QM, learning weird stuff that puts into practice what I've learnt in linear algebra and probability.
Linear algebra is _so_ powerful in QM.
Thanks for the information! I love how care-free these videos are ^w^
You're welcome 🤓
@@ScienceAsylum and the king also replies to comments! ^w^
Now uv made it clear ...i always wondered how a particle could be in a superposition...nice narration
I'm so glad I found your page!
A very clear and lucid explanation! I always hated the concept of Quantum particles Superposition meaning multiple positions at the same time.. this video is a real eye opener giving a clear concept. So far I have not seen anyone doing this before. That is truly awesome! I also love your unique concept of clones and adding a little humor. Thanks a lot Nick!
Hello. This was one amazing video Nick. You really put a lot of thought into this and it shows. I think I have never seen a better explanation of the topic anywhere. If I had this in university I could have understood this many years ealier than I actually have.
wonderful video. helped clarified a lot of things for us. much appreciated
Glad it was helpful! 🤓
It takes true mastery of a subject to simplify it so clearly. Well done!
I've read a lot on this topic and have watched many videos, and while I had grasped the basic concept of super position being probability, I didn't really have a mental framework for thinking about it until this video. I have no idea why I haven't yet subscribed to your channel because I've watched tons of your videos and have loved them all... subscribed now!
GREAT!! BUT!! If you really are like this, try to at least roughly explain the essence of the screenshot of my mystical online ROULETTE game, depicted on my icon??? HM...?
This is the SECRET of all SECRETS, isn't it?
***
Consciousness has the property of creating reality. You can influence the creation process. Any method of influence is just a way of influencing the process, the process itself cannot be changed.
@@yamesotericist4188 Science-Denial comes in Huge Waves and always has come in huge Waves from Religion
or at least Unhealthy Religion;
a Thing that Atheist-TH-camrs criticize and cover.
I hope you give me one single Chance to convince you 'Smart+Funny'
is what they are, when i now recommend you Holy Koolaids Video-Series
"Revising Gods Prophecy".
My comment is random but meant so share Sicence-Fun,
so c'mon, give me this 1 Chance to convince you Atheist-Content can make
you laugh and/or keep you Updated.
You are really good at explaining concepts with visuals and examples! thank you for making these videos!!
I'm glad you like them! 🤓
Thank you - finally a correct explanation of quantum superposition on TH-cam.
Being a retired physicist, I have been annoyed by all of the incorrect information about quantum superposition and particles simultaneously being in multiple states that I have seen heretofore on TH-cam.
I am glad that here you introduced the quantum state vector concept to explain superposition. I have always thought that the concept of state vectors in Hilbert space makes many of the concepts in Quantum Mechanics that many call "weird" very understandable and in some cases even intuitive once one becomes familiar with vector space operations, i.e., vector algebra.
One thing I think you did not state explicitly, but should have, is that the measurement setup defines the set of basis vectors which define the possible measurement outcomes for that setup.
What those who loosely say that a particle is in multiple states simultaneously mean is that the single state vector of the particle consists of a superposition of the multiple basis vector states, i.e., a superposition of the multiple possible measurement outcome states for the particular measurement setup.
Of course, for anyone familiar with vector algebra, there is nothing "weird" about such a superposition principle since it is well known in vector algebra that any vector in a vector space can be expressed as the weighted sum of the orthonormal basis vectors that span the vector space, and the weightings are given by the projections (dot products) of the vector onto the basis vectors.
Also, measurements are projections of the state vector onto the basis vectors and the operations are just the mathematical notations representing those projections.
This is super enlightening and a much needed clarification. Thank you, very cool
The best explanation of superposition that I’ve ever heard. It’s clear and insightful.
I have been both educated and entertained at the same time! You've said it before that quantum mechanics isn't magic, other channels videos push the idea that it is. Really like your videos, keep making more.
I m addicted to your videos. Thanks for such great insights
The ability to grasp a concept is great, but the ability to convey that concept in such a way that others can also grasp it, is greater.
Thank you.
It seems like the terminology we use to measure the behavior is being confused for the behavior itself. Thank you for explaining this, it's much clearer than I ever realized.
Indeed, I have the same problem when people saying of a thought experiment that we can 'see' this spaceship travelling at such and such a relativistic speed. Are we talking about the actual passage of photons from the ships to our eyes, or something that we could measure if we could somehow 'find out' what's going on without the complexity of.light having to 'get" to us ?
As a conceptual learner who really struggles with memorising the nitty gritty facts and formulas, these videos are a goldmine of information for me. They explain things in a way that I can understand WHY something works the way it does, which helps me put all the pieces together. Thank you!!
this is easily the best summary ever made about this subject. thank you for making videos.
You're very welcome! 🤓
Thank you so much! I've watched multiple other videos and read lots of different things and it never clicked. Finally I can understand superposition (somewhat since you can't really ever understand anything fully in quantum mechanics)
Thank you for making this video. Quantum superposition is probably one of the most mystified concepts in all of QM in popular science texts and videos, even though it's literally equivalent to the superposition of vectors that anyone who's completed high school mathematics should know.
That was amazing, thank you! And super impressed that when I checked your vector example, it still had unit magnitude. You’d be amazed how many TH-camrs would fail to achieve that. 👏
Thanks! Attention to detail is important to me. (To be fair though, I do occasionally miss things.)
This is one of my favorite new Channels! ^.^
Glad you found it then 🤓
A really good point that needs to get made more often. Well done. Both in not settling for bad intuitions and in not succumbing to mysticism.
My own realization of the same essential idea came from realizing you could take a typical double slit experiment, and make 2 measurement operators, one which was 1 if the particle went through the left slit, and 0 otherwise, and another which was 1 if the particle went through the right slit, and zero otherwise. Since there are no other slits, we can add those 2 measurement operators to get an operator for *how* *many* slits the particle goes through. That operator has an eigenvalue of 1, and maybe an eigenvalue of 0 if your situation accounts for particles that don't make it through the first barrier, but definitely has no eigenvalue of 2 or more. The measurement does not have that as a possible result. It never happens. The electron does *not* go through both slits. It goes through 1 slit... the question of *which* one is just kinda misaligned with the information we have in some cases.
This is the best video about this topic I've ever seen. It made me feel like I could understand it a bit better and I don't have to be satisfied with the explanation that quantum mechanics is simply strange and not really understandable. On top of that, your videos are so interesting and funny, it never gets boring to watch them.
And by the way, your pronunciation in German is absolutely well.😁
Greetings from a crazy girl from Germany!
Glad I could help 🤓
By far the best video on superpositioning. Explained neatly and presented in an understandable way for those first exploring quantum mechanics.
Science-Denial comes in Huge Waves and always has come in huge Waves from Religion;
a Thing that Atheist-TH-camrs criticize and cover.
I hope you give me one single Chance to convince you 'Smart+Funny'
is what they are, when i now recommend you Holy Koolaids Video-Series
"Revising Gods Prophecy".
My comment is random but meant so share Sicence-Fun,
so c'mon, give me this 1 Chance to convince you Atheist-Content can make
you laugh and/or keep you Updated.
By far this is the best superposition video I have ever seen, thank you so much for it, Nick😊
You explanations are controversal, yet always correct.
That was a really informative video !
Man, what an eye opener! Thanks!
Nice to see the complex metaphor of using math to model physics explained in detail, helping everyone to not be confused when projecting expectations using those metaphors. Kudos.
I’ve asked my friends in Eng Phys about this exact question, and they’ve never given me a satisfying answer. You just did, thank you!
Glad I could help 🤓
6:57 Bra vector isnt important until we start taking measurements.
Is that a joke? 😂😂
Great video and it really help me to understand Bra Ket notation finally.
Now about those Eigen Vectors …
I suggest LInear Algebra with W. Gilbert Strang from MIT on YT. He makes it so easy.
Solid Hard Work put in to this like always!
Wonderful video.
Thanks! Glad you liked it 🤓
Not only do I like it
It is clear that you are in to the next giant impact scientist realm, for instance the memorable elders we have from the past.
You will be a memory that will develop our species in larger ways than calculable .
I am proud to be able to go through our common era and see the new brinks of knowledge
I have seen hundreds of quantum theory videos on youtube, but yours really explained it best. I really thought particles only could be in two states but undefined which. Today I learned something new!
This is the first time I ever understood superpositions. Thank you!
You're welcome! 🤓
@@ScienceAsylum does the 'super' in superpositions refers to infinite positions?
@@aircommandslipperz it comes from the Latin meaning "in addition to", as shown in the video the superposition is the mathematical addition of the basis states vectors
This was genius. Loved everything, including the humor! Thanks so much :)
Thank you. I love your videos, and I love that you add “without woo woo” at the end. Similar to your video on Hawking Radiation, you take the approach that your viewers aren’t morons, but that they’re probably too busy to sit down and figure this stuff out.
You do a fantastic job of taking away the “Quantum Mechanics knows that humans are looking” hype, and actually give a person an impressive intuitive understanding for how this stuff works.
You should do a lecture for the layman that wants a deeper mathematical understanding while also adulting at the same time, I would travel just to see it!!