4 ms·
> Sometimes this effect is interpreted as "a system cannot change while you are watching it" So it _is_ true that the water won't boil if you look at it!
by riffraff 4y ago
> Sometimes this effect is interpreted as "a system cannot change while you are watching it"
So it _is_ true that the water won't boil if you look at it!
- okennedy 4y agoDon't blink.
- Strilanc 4y agoI realize it's a joke but I'll explain why it doesn't follow. The amount of measuring required to prevent the water from boiling would look more like some impossibly intimate process that was actively and constantly interrogating almost every single detail of every water molecule in the pot. It's very different from the passive collection that your eyes do when you look at the pot. You'd need to really get in there and strongly interact with the water to get out the necessary information. A closer analogy than looking at it would be sticking your hand in it, but that's still not nearly harsh enough.