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So can science explain how a photon traverses the slits in the famous two slit experiment? So far, it has provided any number of ideas about that, but it's not

So can science explain how a photon traverses the slits in the famous two slit experiment? So far, it has provided any number of ideas about that, but it's not been able to settle the question: and some believe it's beyond the realm of knowing (the predominant position if I'm not mistaken.) To be fair, I actually agree with you. Science may not have all the answers today, and it may not have some answers for a very long time. But I don't think there are aspects of the universe that are inherently "unknowable". Many times throughout history we have not had access to certain facts due mostly to our technical progression and eventually we have found ways to overcome those obstacles. I see a reality that is, in fact, real and knowable, even if our access to some of that knowledge is not yet possible. Of course, that thinking would be due to my positions on metaphysics. :-) This is where metaphysics can be important; because it can inform your choices about what can even be pursued.

super_mario 11y ago
Actually, science does explain how the photon traverses the double slit in the double slit experiment. That's what quantum mechanics is all about. It was literally invented to explain exactly that.
- Lambdanaut 11y ago
  It gives a predictive model, but it doesnt give us a mechanism.
  - super_mario 11y ago
    Actually it gives us both. It predicts the outcome of say double slit experiment but it also tells us the "mechanism". The "mechanism", if you can call it that, is the wave function, which is a complex valued function, norm squared of which is probability amplitude - roughly speaking the probability that the particle is located at a point in space. So what is really happening is the wave function is propagating though space and interfering with itself as if it were a "normal" wave (say water wave). So wave function propagates through the two slits in double slit experiment and the two resulting waves collide just like water waves would passing though the slits with the resulting troughs and crests of the wave function (remember this is complex valued function whose absolute value squared is the probability that particle is located at that location in space). So, in the quantum model, what is "waving" and spreading through space is in a way a probability of the particle being there. This explanation is very rough and contains a lot of inaccuracies (you really have to look at the math to know what is really going on) but it does give you some flavor of what is going on.
    - Lambdanaut 11y ago
      > The "mechanism", if you can call it that, is the wave function, which is a complex valued function I think that's where I originally disagreed. I wouldn't want to call that a "mechanism", just a model, but I can see how these words become less useful as you examine them further. I'm now thinking that there isn't such a difference between the word "mechanism" and "model". They're both synonyms for a way of perceiving a part of the universe.
- tdb7893 11y ago
  Yes, he picked a poor and kinda disproved himself there. Even something as weird and crazy as that is under the purview of science. Back long ago I bet people thought lightning was unexplainable but it only proves science will eventually push back any limits people set on it.
xlm1717 11y ago
Science can explain how a photon traverses the slits. The trick is explaining why it does so, which is still an active area of research.

super_mario 11y ago

Actually, science does explain how the photon traverses the double slit in the double slit experiment. That's what quantum mechanics is all about. It was literally invented to explain exactly that.

Lambdanaut 11y ago
It gives a predictive model, but it doesnt give us a mechanism.
- super_mario 11y ago
  Actually it gives us both. It predicts the outcome of say double slit experiment but it also tells us the "mechanism". The "mechanism", if you can call it that, is the wave function, which is a complex valued function, norm squared of which is probability amplitude - roughly speaking the probability that the particle is located at a point in space. So what is really happening is the wave function is propagating though space and interfering with itself as if it were a "normal" wave (say water wave). So wave function propagates through the two slits in double slit experiment and the two resulting waves collide just like water waves would passing though the slits with the resulting troughs and crests of the wave function (remember this is complex valued function whose absolute value squared is the probability that particle is located at that location in space). So, in the quantum model, what is "waving" and spreading through space is in a way a probability of the particle being there. This explanation is very rough and contains a lot of inaccuracies (you really have to look at the math to know what is really going on) but it does give you some flavor of what is going on.
  - Lambdanaut 11y ago
    > The "mechanism", if you can call it that, is the wave function, which is a complex valued function I think that's where I originally disagreed. I wouldn't want to call that a "mechanism", just a model, but I can see how these words become less useful as you examine them further. I'm now thinking that there isn't such a difference between the word "mechanism" and "model". They're both synonyms for a way of perceiving a part of the universe.
tdb7893 11y ago
Yes, he picked a poor and kinda disproved himself there. Even something as weird and crazy as that is under the purview of science. Back long ago I bet people thought lightning was unexplainable but it only proves science will eventually push back any limits people set on it.

xlm1717 11y ago

Science can explain how a photon traverses the slits. The trick is explaining why it does so, which is still an active area of research.