Back to Show
PBS Space Time
Zeno's Paradox & The Quantum Zeno Effect
Season 7
Episode 12
A moving arrow is at rest.” Zeno, a Greek philosopher famous for his metaphysical trolling, devised a paradox whose conclusion is just this. If we’re talking about a quantum arrow, there may be a way to freeze its motion simply by looking at it, through the aptly named quantum Zeno effect. The Quantum Zeno effect predicts that certain quantum events can be frozen through this act of observation.
Support Provided By

12:50
Where are the worlds of all the times the universe has split?

14:05
Although elusive, the quantum spin has led to some of the deepest insights we now know.

14:01
Entropy is behind one of the most fundamental laws of physics.

12:22
The more time and space are divided, the distance between them may not exist.

13:44
The accumulation of space junk increases collisions known as the Kessler Syndrome.

11:34
If Planck relics are real, then the black holes may just be everywhere.

10:48
Quantum mechanics forbids us from measuring the universe. But we try with this principle.

14:08
We examine all the best-case scenarios for life beyond Earth.

13:11
Einstein gives us a glimmer of hope that time can be warped.

12:35
It may be that for every star in the universe there are billions of black holes.

12:35
Muon G-2 experiment produces the most successful predictions in physics.

13:08
The crisis in cosmology has actually gotten worse, which means we may be onto something!