This will blow your mind

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle - "The principle that there is an absolute limit on the combined accuracy of certain pairs of simultaneous, related measurements, especially that of the position and momentum of a particle." For example, you have a particle of a certain mass moving at a certain speed in a certain direction. To measure the speed of the particle it is required that you bounce light (a photon) off of it...but the photon itself bouncing off the particle alters its direction and speed. Thus, having any certainty in its direction and current speed (after the measurement) is impossible. Sounds boring I know....but watch this:



So...that's pretty cool right?

Now with that under your belt, check this out. The following video describes an experiment done by physicists using electrons. The thing to remember about this is that the "interference pattern" seen when electrons are sent through the two slits is the set of possible places that an electron could arrive...as soon as it is measured which slit the electron passed through (even though nothing was done to the electron) there is no more "possibility" anymore. We know which slit the electron when through, and therefore the pattern changes.



(The video is kinda cheezy, but the experiment described has been confirmed over and over and over):



This concept (which was not proven experimentally 'till later) really peaved off Einstein, who said that "God does not play dice."

Isn't that amazing!? The simple act of measuring which slit the electron travels through changes everything! I know most of you don't care because it isn't about babies or naughty children or why two x chromosomes are better than one...but I care. So there.