- #36
Ivan Seeking
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
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Originally posted by Arc_Central
Let us say that we have one photon with a travel distance of say 100 light years, and two detectors are at that distance, and they are separated by 25 light years. Either one could detect the photon - correct?
Yes.
In regards to the wave collapsing to one location - Does the whole of the wave collapse instantaneously?
Yes.
EDIT: Whoops. I think this is wrong. I am thinking that a very short time interval is required eg 10^-31 sec. If may be 20 to 45 orders of magnitude less than this,; I would have to check. This also sets the speed limit for Quantum Computers.
Also in regards to detection - Are you saying that detection requires the ejection of an electron? Is there any other way to detect the wave? Can a wave excite an electron and still not eject it, and can we detect that?
I believe that the only means for detecting an incident photon is the release of an electron. If we only excite an electron, then when it falls back into its ground state, another photon is released.
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