donutsweeper: (Quantum Coffee2)
donutsweeper ([personal profile] donutsweeper) wrote2008-01-07 07:57 pm
Entry tags:

Quantum Coffee

Title:  Quantum Coffee
Pairing/Warning/Rating:
none, rated G
Word Count: 100
Summary: Jack and Tosh discuss the act of making coffee
Author's Note: Sequel to Schrödinger's Coffee.  Learn about the observer effect here.  Thanks to [profile] smithy161 and [personal profile] phoenix64 for fixing the quantum nature of Jack's problem.


“Tosh, do you know if Ianto’s done making the coffee yet?”

“Why don’t you go and see for yourself, Jack?”

“No, I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“He might make it differently if I was there.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know if he would, but my being there might affect his coffee-making ability.   And I won’t take that chance.”

“So, we’re talking quantum theory again. The Observer Effect of coffee making; the mere act of observing alters the reality being observed.”

“When the act is Ianto making coffee, I certainly don’t want to risk him altering it!”

[identity profile] kensieg.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
lovely!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
thank you! *g*

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_medley_/ 2008-01-08 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
Bwahaha! I loved the first one, and this one's definitely a worthy sequel. Poor Jack. His coffee is so...precarious.

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 02:22 am (UTC)(link)
Well, if it weren't so important to him than little things like this wouldn't matter quite so much....

[identity profile] badwolf36.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, the unique science of Ianto's coffee. Lovely way of bringing in the Principle. Thanks for sharing!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
thank you! glad you liked it!

[identity profile] ageless-aislynn.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
More awesomeness! As much as I love my coffee, I'm just a novice compared to the good captain... ;) Great work! ♥!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
The quality of coffee is a terribly important thing, especially to Jack! :)

[identity profile] geordie-star.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
Brilliant!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 03:31 am (UTC)(link)
thank you!

[identity profile] the-dark-side.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
I LOVE YOU!

seriously...I just keep sounding more and more insane to my roommates from all the maniacal laughter.

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
maniacal laughter=good thing. I suppose explain that you're learning about quantum theory wouldn't help your case any, would it?

[identity profile] the-dark-side.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
it is.

probably not, but I don't feel so bad considering that a short while ago I was walking past my one of my roommate's door and heard, "arrrgh! shoe!" followed by a thunking sound. I think we're even, now.

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
I think maniacal laughter might be a little bit easier to explain than being attacked by one's own shoe... but maybe they are both things best left unexplained.

[identity profile] the-dark-side.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
I chose not to ask.

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
smart thinking. This way you can create all sorts of plausible explanations in your head, that'll probably wind up being far more entertaining than the truth.

[identity profile] the-dark-side.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
exactly.

[identity profile] secbeth.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
I'll say Jack watching might alter the coffee I love it!!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
thank you!

[identity profile] marvola.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
These should be taught in school!! Seriously! I loved this - a worthy sequel

[identity profile] phoenix64.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee hee. I love these so much. Though unfortunately I'm just enough of a geek to want to gently point out that the observer effect is not the same thing as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, but the equating of the two is done so often that I should probably be glared at for bringing it up.

Have you ever seen Creator? That movie is imprinted upon me so strongly that I can't see "Heisenberg" without hearing Peter O'Toole say we can never know anything.

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:42 pm (UTC)(link)
glad you liked it!

[identity profile] donutsweeper.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
hmmm, it was that the way he observed it he was affecting the experiment, right? I wasn't entirely sure they were the same thing, but copied the way it was explained from here (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/dp27un.html)

Can you explain the difference to me? I'd like to fix it if I can.

[identity profile] smithy161.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
We can either know whether Ianto is making coffee, or what speed he is travelling at, but never both at once?

Awesome, as always. And I swear coffee isn't a complex arrangement of compounds. It's a fundamental particle. It is in fact the elusive graviton, and the universe revolves around it.

*Publishes essay*

(Comment edited because I just remembered I have this icon)

[identity profile] smithy161.livejournal.com 2008-01-08 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
The uncertainty principal is to do with measurement. If you know with high accuracy one property of a particle (its speed) you can't accurately measure another property (location).

Wiki clicky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenberg_uncertainty_principle)

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