this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2024
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[–] yuri@pawb.social 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I vaguely remember an explanation that whatever device/mechanism is actually used to “observe” the experiment was affecting the behavior of the light. Boiling it down to “observation changed the outcome” makes you picture something that changes depending on whether you look at it with your eyes, but there’s a lot more moving parts to the whole thing.

[–] 200ok@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Exactly. The apparatus used to take measurements slightly alters the thing being measured. It's not the act of looking at it with our eyes that causes any change.

An analogy that I find easier to understand is the tool used to measure tire pressure releases a small amount of air, thus changing the tire pressure (albeit negligible).