LMR-050 · Quantum

Superposition

Until you look, a tiny thing can be in many places at once.

§ A first look

§ Depths

Six ways into the same idea — from bedtime story to chalkboard. No order required.

L1 · Crayon

Told like a bedtime story.

For a curious 10-year-old. No jargon. Just a picture in your head.

In the everyday world, things are in one place at a time. Your shoes are either in the closet or under the bed — not both. (Unless you have one of each, in which case, I am sorry.) In the world of the very smallest things — atoms, particles — that rule simply stops being true. A single particle can be doing several things at once: spinning two ways, sitting in two places, taking two paths. Only when you actually look does it 'pick one' and start behaving like a normal everyday object. Before you look, it's all of the options at the same time. Yes, this is as weird as it sounds. No, you are not misunderstanding. Everyone is upset.

§ Strange but true

01A quantum particle can be in many states at once — like a coin spinning in mid-air.
02It collapses to one outcome only when measured. Looking matters.
03Quantum computers exploit this. A 300-qubit machine holds more states at once than there are atoms in the universe.

§ From the field journal

Superposition

"Until you look, a tiny thing can be in many places at once."

— observed, sketched, not yet fully understood.

field sketch · graphite & gold leaf

§ Nearby