The Change in Probability Distributions for the 2-Slit Experiment from Interference to Knowing the Specific Way an Event Occurred is Protected by Knowledge, Not the Uncertainty Principle

A prior analysis of an adaptation of Einstein’s 2-slit experiment with momentum control through the use of putting the slit plate on wheels is discussed. This analysis, congruent with the explanation by Bohr, relies on the uncertainty principle to explain the presence of no interference in the probability distribution instead of interference. The correct explanation is based on the principle that when one can know the specific way an event takes place, one takes the absolute square of the probability amplitude for the event for a specific way to develop the probability distribution for the event happening that specific way. The total probability distribution is the sum of the probability distributions for the event happening either of the two possible ways (no interference). Bohr used the uncertainty principle “to escape the paradoxical necessity of concluding that the behaviour of an electron or a photon should depend on the presence of a slit in the diaphragm through which it could be proved not to pass.” Bohr preferred phase incongruence for the components of the wave function through the 2 slits even though 1 component, including its phase, vanishes as soon as the specific way the event occurred is known. The new explanation explains null measurements. Bohr’s does not.