The Observer Effect

Hello, readers. Today, I've decided that I want to talk about the observer effect.

For those of you who do not know, the observer effect is relevant in quantum mechanics (which is also called quantum theory). The main idea of the observer effect is that when you go to observe something, the object that you are observing is changed by the manner in which you are observing it. One example of the phenomenon is checking the air pressure of your tires. It is extremely difficult to receive an accurate reading because it is difficult to do it without letting some air out of the tire.

However, the observer effect also affects thermodynamics, electronics, and particle physics. It is not exclusively used in quantum mechanics. In thermodynamics, a mercury thermometer must absorb or give up some sort of thermal energy to read body temperature, therefore changing the temperature of the body that is having its temperature measured.

In particle physics, for a electron or some other sort of atom to become a detectable particle, a particle that is the exact opposite must interact with it. In the case of an electron, the particle that must interact for it to become detectable is a photon. However, this interaction will cause the path of said particle to change. Because of this, it will interfere with the a particle physicist's detection of the electron.

In electronics, ammeters and voltmeters are wired in series or are parallel. Their presence affects the current or the voltage the two meters are measuring by presenting another load to the circuit, which will affect the transfer function or the behavior of the circuit itself. Even a passive device such as current clamp affects the current going through the circuit being measured due to the inductance being mutual.

But in quantum mechanics, the observer effect becomes much more complex and somewhat difficult to understand (Heisenberg himself didn't really understand it until further studying). A simple way to express this effect in quantum mechanics is Schrodinger's Cat, the famous thought experiment. There is a cat under a cardboard box. One is not aware if the cat is alive or dead before further observation. Until you lift up the box, the cat is alive and dead at the same time. This thought experiment is about as simple as the observer effect gets while explaining it.

There is a theory that all fictional characters are copied into an alternate universe and are real there and fictional here. Due to the observer effect, we have no simple way of proving the existence of alternate universes. Some scientists have claimed that black holes are wormholes into alternate universes (but this theory is also affected by the observer effect). The only way we could really test this theory is by sending an unmanned rocket ship into a black hole, but the rocket would cross the event horizon and would be destroyed by the black hole. Unless we figure out how to create a black hole-proof rocket ship (which would be the ultimate waste of tax dollars), we will never know if this is true.

Very few people find the observer effect, and an even smaller amount know what it is. Usually, only quantum scientists, physicists, electricians, and particle physicists find the observer effect the least bit useful. But I have a challenge for all of my readers. Try to apply the observer effect to your everyday life and post what you have applied it to in the comments below.