Anyone remember an experiment with subatomic particles where

[vademocrat]

the particles react differently when observed by humans rather than video?

I thought I'd read something about this and can't find any info. Does this sound familiar to anyone or am I in fantasyland with this?

[shraby]

1. Check back issues of Scientific American

at your library. You may also be able to find an article on their online site at <http://www.sciam.com>

[vademocrat]

4. Thank you - lots of interesting stuff there -

it may have been a Scientific American where I saw a reference to this.

[Lerkfish]

2. Sure you're not remembering the endochrinic properties of thiotimoline?

Isaac Asimov story, one of his first.

[vademocrat]

5. LOL - too many years of reading both science fiction and science fact!

[man4allcats]

3. Sorry I don't remember the details,

but your recollection of the substance of it is correct. It is discussed by John Gribbin in his book In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics And Reality. The book is intended for a popular audience and therefore does not require a graduate degree in physics for one's appreciation of the contents. It's a good read if you like that sort of thing. I would recommend it.

[vademocrat]

6. Thanks for the confirmation -I'll check that book out -

I really enjoyed both The Crack in the Cosmic Egg and The Tao of Physics although they're probably dated by now. I read them in the early '80s (I think...)

[man4allcats]

9. I also read "The Tao of Physics" at about that same time, but

I missed The Crack in the Cosmic Egg. Thanks for mentioning the title. I will look for it.

[vademocrat]

10. Check out The Dancing Wu Li Masters -

It came out around that time also.

[greyl]

13. I think you may be having a false memory of something from

that book. ;)
It's an interesting book that I was once very attached to. I followed Zukav's next few books, loving "Seat of the Soul", but his Omega institute has become full of overpriced pseudoscience, and I've since decided that with The Dancing Wu Li Masters he was only tapping a market.
In contrast, I think Richard Bach's(Jonathan Livingston Seagull) writing career developed "authentically". ;)

[rman]

7. How can humans observe subatomic particles without

the aid of some measuring- or recording device (such as video)?
I'm pretty sure we can't.

[vademocrat]

8. You're right and I probably misphrased my question -

My memory of what I read was when the scientists were observing the particles they acted in one way than when just a recording device alone was present. I don't have or remember details of how the experiment was set up which is why I'm trying to find enough information to track this down...

[OldCurmudgeon]

11. if there were such a result

it would be common knowledge among particle physicists, and it's not.

Sounds like it could have been an SF plot, a hypothetical example in
a philosphical discussion, posed as a "thought experiment", or the like.

Modern experiments don't use direct human observers, and not even "video" (too crude).
A human observer at the UA1 experiment, for example, *would* have yielded different
results, but only because their head would have gotten in the way of the proton
and antiproton beams. Ugh. Messy.

...at last, a job that Bill O'Reilly is truely suited for!

[greyl]

12. This reminds me of

some of the common misunderstandings of quantum physics that new age/mystical sites repeat in an attempt to borrow scientific credibility and that are forever morphing like in a game of phone.

In particular, it sounds like the collapse of the wave function after a particle is observed conflated with > we observe what we look for > then "we create our own reality" meaning much too much more than "it's not the cards you're dealt, it's how you play them".

www.answers.com/topic/measurement-in-quantum-mechanics

[Scribe]

14. I think you're talking about 'Delayed Choice Experiments'.