Superposition is related to what is just said. Namely, the theory does not tell us what happened in between two observations. If you use this fact in inquante mechanics, it doesn't work. It's like the particle goes through both. And if we try feeding the usual intuition, we have to sort of think that the particles is in two positions at the same time.
It has been more than a century since the groundwork of quantum physics was first formulated and yet the consequences of the theory still elude both scientists and philosophers. Why does light sometimes behave as a wave, and other times as a particle? Why does the outcome of an experiment apparently depend on whether the particles are being observed or not? In the first of two episodes, Ian Sample sits down with the physicist Carlo Rovelli to discuss the strange consequences of quantum theory and the explanation he sets out in his book Helgoland. Help support our independent journalism at
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