Quantum Decoherence Explained
Why can not big things be in two places at once?
Your turn!
Question 1 of 2Why can big things not be in two places at once?
The story
Quarky wonders why a tiny particle can be in two places at once but a bouncy ball never is. The answer is bumping! Every air molecule, every photon of light that touches an object leaks its secret to the world. Once the secret is out, the two possibilities stop working together and the object picks one boring answer. Scientists call that leak decoherence, and it is why quantum weirdness hides from us.
What you'll learn
- Small things can be in a superposition of two states
- Touching the outside world leaks information away
- That leak is called decoherence
- Big objects decohere almost instantly
- Quantum computers must stay very cold and very still
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