#the observer effect

This Gerard as the Bluecoats’ 2025 show, “The Observer Effect”

I've decided to take on the task of explaining my little yap in this comment:

Also I'll be simplifying a lot of things so feel free to explain them in detail in reblogs/comments :3 /g /nf

ANYWAYS

First of all, wtf even are quantum physics??

Quantum physics are a branch of physics which focuses on the subatomic, the nitty gritty wonky shit we can see under microscopes

Let's start with this: did you know that the atomic model made by Schrodinger actually is the most accurate one we have (so far)?

(the last one in this picture)

As you can see, the atomic model evolved over time, going from Dalton's ball to Schrodinger's cloud

But why the hell is it a cloud?

It's not like they turned out to be actual, negatively charged clouds instead of subatomic particles, no. It's due to electrons being in constant motion, meaning we can't tell exactly where they are and all we can do is bet that they're in certain positions (which got calculated and stuff blablabla, tons of probability talk mimimi) until observed

Which brings me into another point, superposition!

When we say that something is in superposition, we mean that it's in an unclear state until observed and as an example I'll use the famous Schrodinger's cat...man

(I put it together while writing all of this btw)

Imagine the Catman in a box with a poison which will kill him once a radioactive atom connected to it decays (usually by ejecting either a part of its nucleus, an electron or a gamma ray but which type of decay would happen here is irrelevant). Until we open the box to check if he's dead, or alive, we can't be sure

And yes, that makes him both dead and alive at the same time (which I'll get to later)

That box situation puts him in superposition and thus checks off Schrodinger's Cat(man) paradox at once :3

Also no Catmen got hurt during the experiment ":3 /silly

Staying with superposition for a moment longer, we can move to the observer effect (or as I worded it in the comment: "how observing something influences the outcome"). For it, we gotta get to the double slit experiment which is the best example of the observer effect in action!

(taken from wikimedia)

The double slit experiment is about how doing something can have different results depending if its process is being observed as it's going on

When observed and documented, the experiment gave a fairly straightforward result, with the conclusion being that electrons behaved like the particles they are:

(shown above)

But, once not observed and only documented afterwards, it gave a very... intriguing result, with the electrons acting more like waves than particles:

(same source as with pic above these two)

Now, it may either mean that the particle-wave duality of, well, particles is real, also that maybe the photons messed with the trajectory of the electrons which made them act "normal", or maybe that a conscious observer somehow messes with reality itself?

Okay, don't ask me which one it is (it's not the last one don't be ridiculous, the observer they used wasn't a sentient being but a machine) but it surely proves that us observing something will change the results!

Now going back a little, remember the part about Catman being both dead and alive? Yeah!

That relates to the concept of quantum immortality (and quantum suicide BUT dw there won't be any actual talk about kys /info)!

Quantum immortality is a concept rooted in quantum mechanics and discusses the possibility of living seemingly endlessly through the splitting of the timeline whenever you're in a deadly situation

And quantum suicide is when you're in the timeline that ends with you being dead

(Yes, it relates to the many-worlds interpretation which is about how there are endless versions of our world which "split off" whenever something happens, creating pretty much a multiverse that could be proven scientifically... maybe... someday)

And now my favorite quantum twat and his family, STRING THEORY AND M THEORY

String theory states that instead of elemental particles (e.g. electrons, up and down quarks, gluons, higgs bosons, electron neutrinos etc.), we have one dimmensional planck length strings in their place which vibrate in a certain way that results in them functioning as specific elemental particles!

Basically, everything being made of strings and not particles at the subatomic level

However, we can't prove it directly (via observation), because in order to see if they're here or not, we'd have to shrink photons so much, we'd create kugelblitzs (black holes made out of heat/energy/radiation) and see nothing

The M Theory encompasses the various versions of "the superstring theory", which tries to make quantum physics work with all fundamental forces (strong & weak nuclear forces, electromagnetism and that pesky gravity). Of course, gravity has to be a diva and make things extra complicated (which, btw, made various theories about it spark up, such as the theory about gravity being made of particles called gravitons)

The big M stands for many different things and here you can say it's "magic" or "mystery", or "meme" even tbh (my fav is Meow) /silly

AND THAT IS ALL EVERYONE

It was really fun and took me a lil while X3333!!!!

Ngl, most of it is actually from memory with fact checking to see if I remembered things correctly or not /nafx

ALSO

If anyone has any questions about these or wants to know more about atomic, subatomic, or quantum physics, feel free to ask me about it :3<

observereffectcompic

a compic gender based on / related to the drum corps show The Observer Effect by the Bluecoats 2025.

I have been writing a book! Hooray!

And I have been doing a great deal of thinking about how I learned to write in non traditional formats. Because I grew up playing video games as much as reading my literature.

Video games operate within very rigid set parameters. One of the ways this pays off is in boss mechanics. Ever remember your first multi phase poss fight? Where the health bar is at zero and you can finally breath? Then out of seemingly nowhere the boss gets back up, unlocks it's final form and rips you a new one! That example played with expectations and technically broke all the rules. but it's so common now it's functionally cliche and often assumed.

So I asked myself, what if reading a boss fight contributed something in some way similar to a game experience. Readers of stories typically don't have a ton of agency so I turned to games for my solution and I think I am satisfied with my result...

After all the Observer Effect in physics shows us the act of observing events fundamentally changes them. Especially at the smallest of scales. So why cant an observer change a book's outcome somehow?

But I would not be a true scientist without input from my fellow bookworms.

So what do you think of these ideas?

The Observer Effect.

thinking about the observer effect

someone reminded me that Amy maybe stopped the Not!Them from getting Graham by watching him

and maybe Jon's paranoia has actually been the thing stopping Not!Sasha from doing some creepy stuff...

pg. 3

stretch your arms wide; I'll slide I look at your face, here by my side was there even a race? but I won can I write you into all of my songs?