Uploaded February 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
How is quantum randomness anymore mysterious than the randomness of a coin flip?
You'll see.
The homework questions and extra readings are below:
The questions:
1. What if there are three slits and you only have a detector at one. What does the wavefunction of a particle that goes through look like before and after?
2. The second question is about what counts as a measurement. I kind of implied that interactions with air and light count as measurements. Do you think all interactions count?
3. What about if a machine does a measurement and then, without storing it in memory, prints the result, and burns it. Is the wavefunction still collapsed?
4. And finally one about interpretations. What do you think of quantum randomness? Do you understand why physicists had problems with it? As you may know, there are hidden variable alternatives to Quantum mechanics that don’t have true randomness does this make them more appealing? Are there any issues with hidden variables?
Citations and extra reading!
-Check out this remarkable video on the 'randomness' of coin flips: youtu.be/AYnJv68T3MM
-Also check out this great videos by Veritasium and Vsauce on this exact issue of apparent randomness (versus true randomness): youtu.be/sMb00lz-IfE and youtu.be/9rIy0xY99a0
-If you want to know how to do really sophisticated stuff with the ideas touched on in the video, I highly recommend Ch 3 of Vol III of the Feynman Lectures. http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/
-Einstein's quote in full is: "As I have said so many times, God doesn't play dice with the world." .... At least according to wikiquote: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_E...
How is quantum randomness anymore mysterious than the randomness of a coin flip?
You'll see.
The homework questions and extra readings are below:
The questions:
1. What if there are three slits and you only have a detector at one. What does the wavefunction of a particle that goes through look like before and after?
2. The second question is about what counts as a measurement. I kind of implied that interactions with air and light count as measurements. Do you think all interactions count?
3. What about if a machine does a measurement and then, without storing it in memory, prints the result, and burns it. Is the wavefunction still collapsed?
4. And finally one about interpretations. What do you think of quantum randomness? Do you understand why physicists had problems with it? As you may know, there are hidden variable alternatives to Quantum mechanics that don’t have true randomness does this make them more appealing? Are there any issues with hidden variables?
Citations and extra reading!
-Check out this remarkable video on the 'randomness' of coin flips: youtu.be/AYnJv68T3MM
-Also check out this great videos by Veritasium and Vsauce on this exact issue of apparent randomness (versus true randomness): youtu.be/sMb00lz-IfE and youtu.be/9rIy0xY99a0
-If you want to know how to do really sophisticated stuff with the ideas touched on in the video, I highly recommend Ch 3 of Vol III of the Feynman Lectures. http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/
-Einstein's quote in full is: "As I have said so many times, God doesn't play dice with the world." .... At least according to wikiquote: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_E...
