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How to Build Your Own Quantum Entanglement Experiment (2013)

153 points| abrax3141 | 4 years ago |blogs.scientificamerican.com | reply

37 comments

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[+] alphabetting|4 years ago|reply
I just played this online Qubit game that I thought I would put down after a few minutes. Ended up playing for 50 min to finish and actually got a much better sense of how quantum computers work than before.

https://quantumai.google/education/thequbitgame

[+] bradrn|4 years ago|reply
Relatedly, I recently discovered https://algassert.com/quirk — it does require a bit of quantum computing knowledge to use, but the UI is excellent, and I found it incredibly useful for ‘getting a feel’ of how various quantum algorithms work.
[+] Nzen|4 years ago|reply
Thanks for suggesting this game. I can definitely see Townsend's influence, though I prefer his A Dark Room .

How did you make headway with the research project subsystem ?

I've tried submitting just algorithm responses with lots of valid samples, but that doesn't seem to correlate with success. The svelte js for the game is minified, so I couldn't tell what it tested to choose success or failure. Thanks

[+] lifefeed|4 years ago|reply
Much happier game than the time I destroyed the universe with paperclip manufacturing.
[+] Xcelerate|4 years ago|reply
This is really fascinating. It would be cool if we had an online group or forum that attempted to brainstorm the simplest/cheapest/(safest?) ways of performing interesting experiments like this that you wouldn’t think you could do at home. I’ve read about a few experiments for determine the speed of light using a microwave that I thought were pretty cool.
[+] hoyd|4 years ago|reply
A student just now told me about an open source rpi muon detector that can be built at home. That should be added to such a list. I work at Andøya Space.
[+] imglorp|4 years ago|reply
Side note, with the invasion scare it's been almost impossible to buy any sort of consumer radiation monitors. Everything is sold out or on backorder.
[+] zabzonk|4 years ago|reply
Sorry, what "invasion scare"?
[+] nlarion|4 years ago|reply
Not sure why, but the article doesn't have the original photos that went along with the post(s):

https://web.archive.org/web/20160919103031/http://blogs.scie...

https://web.archive.org/web/20150926005801/https://blogs.sci...

[+] CamperBob2|4 years ago|reply
One thing I don't get: he is measuring gamma rays, which will go through the wall of the Geiger tube as easily as they'll go through the front window. Why does it matter how the tube is oriented with respect to the source? Seems like the only factor that should affect the count rate is distance.
[+] DecentAI|4 years ago|reply
TIL that there readily available radioactive material/disks sold online…
[+] busyant|4 years ago|reply
I have taught a chemistry class where we use those disks. They have a stamp on them that say something like "NRC exempt quantity."

So, apparently, the disks have enough radioactive material to detect, but not enough to cause anyone to worry.

[+] quickthrower2|4 years ago|reply
Smoke detectors have radioactive material
[+] dr_dshiv|4 years ago|reply
TIL that you can buy antimatter on the internet.
[+] anfractuosity|4 years ago|reply
Has anyone got the book 'Exploring Quantum Physics through Hands-on Projects', it sounds pretty cool
[+] CamperBob2|4 years ago|reply
It is a fantastic book IMO. Some of it is fairly advanced, although there's never more math than is really necessary to explain what to expect from the experiments. The chapters on recreating the early CRT experiments of people like Hertz, Crookes, and Thomson are especially nifty.

If you wanted to perform most or all of the experiments it will probably cost you at least a few thousand dollars (and a few months' time), but the authors have done a great job with the presentation and content and clearly know their stuff.

[+] marvel_boy|4 years ago|reply
Should not have (2013) in the title?
[+] dr_dshiv|4 years ago|reply
You can create superpositions with guitar strings.
[+] jimhefferon|4 years ago|reply
Not a physicist, so maybe I have a completely wrong idea. But is not superposition of waves different than (in any event less surprising than) superposition in discrete particles?