- #1
Jimmy87
- 686
- 17
Hi pf,
I'm fairly new to QM so this may seem like a trivial question. As I understand it, an electron (or any small particle) does not have a definitive position in space until it is observed which causes the quantum wave like nature of the particle to disappear (collapse of the wave function). For example, in the electron double slit experiment, the electron behaves like a wave showing an interference pattern until you try to measure which slit it goes through which causes the wave function to collapse and the pattern resembles two peaks rather than an interference pattern.
From what I have read, the energy released by the Sun cannot be fully explained without taking into account quantum tunneling. This seems to be explained by the quantum wave like nature of particles which means since two protons can be in many places at once (due to their wave like nature) some of these places result in these particles tunneling through the electrical repulsion barrier and fusing together. This sounds silly but if you use the same logic for the effects of observation on quantum objects for the double slit experiment then what would happen if you were to simultaneously try to observe all the protons in the Sun (obviously this is impossible). If you could observe all the protons in the Sun then effectively wouldn't all their wave functions collapse and you would have no quantum tunneling and the Sun would produce less energy?
I'm fairly new to QM so this may seem like a trivial question. As I understand it, an electron (or any small particle) does not have a definitive position in space until it is observed which causes the quantum wave like nature of the particle to disappear (collapse of the wave function). For example, in the electron double slit experiment, the electron behaves like a wave showing an interference pattern until you try to measure which slit it goes through which causes the wave function to collapse and the pattern resembles two peaks rather than an interference pattern.
From what I have read, the energy released by the Sun cannot be fully explained without taking into account quantum tunneling. This seems to be explained by the quantum wave like nature of particles which means since two protons can be in many places at once (due to their wave like nature) some of these places result in these particles tunneling through the electrical repulsion barrier and fusing together. This sounds silly but if you use the same logic for the effects of observation on quantum objects for the double slit experiment then what would happen if you were to simultaneously try to observe all the protons in the Sun (obviously this is impossible). If you could observe all the protons in the Sun then effectively wouldn't all their wave functions collapse and you would have no quantum tunneling and the Sun would produce less energy?