I guess the point of my post was to say that even though quantum entanglement necessarily collapses the paired particle when one is "observed," this doesn't really have any practical applications, since there's no way for the universe to communicate that initial collapse to the second particle at faster than the speed of light. So really, while the wave function is actually 100% going to collapse into a particular state, there's no way for an observer to know that, so from their perspective, there's still a 50% chance of it being in state A vs state B (spin up/down), and when an observation is finally made on the second particle, it seems like it just coincidentally ends up in the state that it must.

That's how I understand it, at least. I'll watch the video now, though. I never had the chance to take a course in advanced quantum, so we never really got very far out of the basics like the infinite/finite square wells, the hydrogen atom, and a few other basic quantum concepts (like the proof that there's no Hidden Variable, and the Heisenberg and General Uncertainty Principles).

there are many practical applications.watch that vid i posted. quantum computers is one of a many.

it doesn't collapse in every instance. the collapse is just a way to show that there has been a direct affect upon altering the state of one of the particles ( a control if you will)

i'm not claiming to be an expert. i argue to learn. this is my understanding as it stands.

damnit jim i'm a biochemist not a physicists

to me that just suggests that the particles destiny is predetermined or possibly that time does not exist at all.

as the speed of light is the fastest we currently know of, the answer is kinda obvious.

wall of text> your answer bro

another is retrieving information from inside black holes. also with transmitting encryption codes.

@Underlined: No. The only way to get information out of a black hole is via the jet stream that it fires off in either direction.
@Bold: Yes, quantum computing has applications in encryption technology, but the main reason for that is because it's supposed to be a MUCH faster computer, so it's capable of trying all possible permutations and actually breaking through 128 bit encryption. Once quantum computers come into existence, they'll be used to find even larger prime numbers to base encryption technologies off of, and so they'll be used to make encryption that even quantum computers can't break on a realistic time scale.

1) those 'jet streams' aren't coming from within the actual black hole, so idk where you heard that. and yes it has been hypothesized that quantum entanglement could be used in the same manner as hawking radiation is supposedly produced to retrieve info from inside them.
2) im talking about quantum entanglement. its application in encryption is simply that it makes codes theft-proof

This post was edited by dothe on Feb 27 2011 01:47pm

gravitational influence goes at light speed

you don't need the existence of the graviton to prove it, it shows up in einstein's field equations



yes it does



your thoughts are just connections of neurons using electricity, which is an electromagnetic phenomenon that is slower than light simply because there are chemicals involved at the gap junctions

when i think of something, time (although small and instantaneous to us) was used to transmit the signal

This post was edited by Casey on Feb 27 2011 08:37pm

Not in quantum mechanics it doesn't.