Ancient-Sense-2022 t1_iw1ax9a wrote on November 12, 2022 at 4:14 AM

Reply to comment by ItsAConspiracy in Can post-quantum encryption save the internet? by gregnoone

My bad, I thought you knew what is Quantum Entanglement since you mentioned in your comment.
Quantum Entanglement is when two particles link together in a certain way no matter how far apart they are in space. If you move one particle to the right, the other particle moves to the left instantaneously, even if separated by billions of light-years (simple explanation).
I thought you were using 2 coins to represent 2 particles.

ItsAConspiracy t1_iw2bu6g wrote on November 12, 2022 at 12:17 PM

No that is not how quantum entanglement works. Here's the standard example of how it works:

Electrons have a property called "spin." You can measure the spin and it will have a value of either "up" or "down."

The spin is in an indeterminate state until you measure it. Then when you measure, it will be either up or down, randomly. If two particles are entangled, then if you measure one and find that it's up, you already know that the other one is down.

But if you're that second person and haven't been tipped off by the first person, then you still just have an electron with a spin you don't know. So you'll measure it and find out that it happens to be down. Now you know the other one is up. But it's still just a random value.

Quantum entanglement does not cause particles to move around like you described.