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Ask a physicist anything. (2)

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Maxwell511

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Wiccan_Child

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"INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER."
And that is why you don't exist in two places at once. :cool:

Do you take a realist approach to "electron holes"? They are particles after all.
Electron holes are imaginary particles used to simplify models of atomic lattices and the like. They aren't real particles, but they can be modelled as such, much as cars moving forward to fill a gap in traffic can be modelled as a gap moving backward through traffic. Obviously the gap isn't a real car, and an electron hole isn't a real particle; what's really going on is that cars and electrons are moving about, creating the illusion that there's this phantom particle (or car) moving about.

Electron holes aren't particles ;).
 
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Not in this system it's not. The two states of the hypothetical systems are |alive> and |dead>. That's it.
That's what I was attempting to explain and understand.
The SC thought experiment does not try to explain (IMO) "two separate locations at once", but rather the simple probability and randomness of decay (hence the |alive>and|dead> end point of the the thought experiment).
 
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Wiccan_Child

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A couple of questions for a physicist-
What is the approximate mass (not weight) of a sphere of lead .75 inches in diameter?
0.041048 kg, to 5 significant figures.

What is the approximate mass (again, not weight) of a piece of yew wood, 3 feet 6 inches long, and about 1/4 inch in diameter?
Assuming it's cylindrical... 0.020271 kg, to 5 significant figures.

That's what I was attempting to explain and understand.

The SC thought experiment does not try to explain (IMO) "two separate locations at once", but rather the simple probability and randomness of decay (hence the |alive>and|dead> end point of the the thought experiment).
It doesn't try to explain radioactive decay. Rather, it tries to show the peculiar properties inherent in quantum superposition (that is, a system being in two states at once). Decay is simply how the system gets into that peculiar superposition of states.
 
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TerranceL

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If we ever reach the point that we will be able to transfer human consciousness into a machine what do you think will be done with the human left over?

What I mean is.. when we copy something now the original is left over. Do you think that they will actually "move" the information?

Oh and do people actually ever forget anything?
 
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Maxwell511

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Electron holes are imaginary particles used to simplify models of atomic lattices and the like. They aren't real particles, but they can be modelled as such, much as cars moving forward to fill a gap in traffic can be modelled as a gap moving backward through traffic. Obviously the gap isn't a real car, and an electron hole isn't a real particle; what's really going on is that cars and electrons are moving about, creating the illusion that there's this phantom particle (or car) moving about.

Electron holes aren't particles ;).

Define "particle", you are definitely using two definitions of a particle in your post. The hole according to you is both an "imaginary particle" and not a "particle".

I am pretty sure they are particles, of course they are imaginary particles but they are still particles. I did not need you to explain how the concept is formed I just wanted your opinion on the significance of it. As per earlier... I have read a book on Solid State Physics this one time.

Do you not think that the fact that we can make up particles to explain natural events is slightly weird?
 
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Wiccan_Child

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Define "particle", you are definitely using two definitions of a particle in your post. The hole according to you is both an "imaginary particle" and not a "particle".
Yes. It is an imaginary particle, not a genuine particle. The former phrase refers to a phenomenon that acts as if it were a particle (that is, it's convenient, easy, and mathematically elegant to model it as a particle), but, in fact, is not a genuine particle (in this case, it's simply the collective behaviour of many, many genuine particles).
The latter phrase refers to actual, genuine particles, like quarks and neutrinos.

It's like classical mechanics: it's convenient and simple to model planets as particles with mass, but that doesn't mean they're actual particles. They're just conglomerates which act as if they were.

I am pretty sure they are particles, of course they are imaginary particles but they are still particles. I did not need you to explain how the concept is formed I just wanted your opinion on the significance of it. As per earlier... I have read a book on Solid State Physics this one time.

Do you not think that the fact that we can make up particles to explain natural events is slightly weird?
No, since it's not different to making up something called 'wind' to explain why trees go all bendy (there is no continuous fluid, just tiny balls bumping into each other).

Perhaps you're confusing virtual particles with imaginary particles? One are real, but so brief as to be (almost) unimportant, while the other is a convineant (but incorrect) way to think about it.

Yes they are. :p

Also phonons, virtual photons, etc they are all particles.

What else would you call them?
Phonons aren't particles: they behave as if they are, and it's mathematically simpler to model them as if they are, but they're not. They're conglomerates of particles, but that doesn't make them particles themselves. I'm made of atoms, but I'm not an atom.

Virtual photons, on the other hand, are real particles. The 'virtual' moniker means they exist for such a short amount of time that they may as well not exist, but they do exist, and they (like all photons) are genuine particles.
 
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Wiccan_Child

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If we ever reach the point that we will be able to transfer human consciousness into a machine what do you think will be done with the human left over?
By that time, pigs will be extinct, so for the purpose of making rubgy balls, we'll have to get the skin from somewhere...

What I mean is.. when we copy something now the original is left over. Do you think that they will actually "move" the information?
Depends on how information is stored. Does the soul get split? Is my conciousness preserved, or destroyed and a new one created in its place? Do I take a gamble and hope that my me ends up in the robot and not the other me?

Oh and do people actually ever forget anything?
Yes, usually after death :p .
 
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Maxwell511

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Perhaps you're confusing virtual particles with imaginary particles? One are real, but so brief as to be (almost) unimportant, while the other is a convineant (but incorrect) way to think about it.

Honestly I am not confusing anything. I am just "poking" you. I am trying to figure out if you understand the difference between the "map" and the "territory".
 
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Wiccan_Child

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Please define the concept of particle concisely.
A fundamental quantum of matter (e.g., electrons, quarks, photons). This includes virtual particles, which are so-called because they exist for such a brief time that they may as well not exist at all (e.g., quantum foam).

Imaginary particles are emergent phenomena from the behaviour of particles, and can be modelled as an imaginary particle (e.g., phonons, electron holes). Composite particles are groups of particles in a bound state and, unlike imaginary particles, always consist of the same group of particles (e.g., protons, neutrons, even atoms and molecules).

What do you think a 'particle' is?
 
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Maxwell511

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A fundamental quantum of matter (e.g., electrons, quarks, photons).

Define matter. While I would give you electrons and quarks as being matter. I would not give you a photon as being a fundamental quantum of matter.
 
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