Quantum physics confronts the would-be discoverer with one of the most enduring conundrums modern science has to offer, what renowned physicist Richard Feynman described as “the only mystery.” The name it has been given—the double-slit experiment—sounds far simpler that its enigma.
This experiment has been made more mysterious now with research revealing a strange connection between mind and matter and how mental practices like meditation may even influence quantum phenomena.
But let’s begin by reviewing that foundational experiment which launched us into this new, post-Newtonian paradigm of the quantum world.
The Double-Slit Experiment
One way to explain this conundrum would be to begin looking at its single-slit counterpart: Try to imagine a beam of photons (light particles) being shot into a light-proof box through a single slit, then hitting a piece of photographic paper inside. What would appear but a pattern matching that slit on the paper as one would expect? The exposure would be strongest in the places where a straight line emanates from the light source, passes through the slit, and touches the paper. Naturally, some light would scatter randomly to the sides, getting fainter and sparser the farther away, as photon particles tend to shoot straight, not sideways; such outliers are predictable, nevertheless. The outer edges of the paper would appear least exposed. This pattern is just what you’d expect from a light beam shining through a slit—like little bullets, photons shoot like particles. Nothing strange here—yet….