Comment by __MatrixMan__

Comment by __MatrixMan__ a day ago

1 reply

I've not studied QED directly, so by all means correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that we'd get a double-slit like scenario where it's as if a partial electron went through either path. We might want to say that surely a whole electron took one path and not the other but we couldn't say which and if we tried to instrument to and find out we'd affect the resistance.

But that's fine because knowing which path the electron took is not part of the problem. Both paths contributed to the resistance even if one was not taken.

We only have to worry about quantum effects if the probabilities are not a decent proxy for the partial-particles that we suspect don't exist. In this case, the Physicist can probably proceed directly to the bar and have a drink with the Mathematician.

dgfl a day ago

Resistance is inherently dissipative, so there is no coherent path the electron can take. No quantum effects here, the electron is always interacting with the resistor lattice.