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Rachel had started to relax, just a bit. She hadn’t wanted to come to this after-work gathering at Emma’s condo. Dog tired, her new job was draining the very life out of her. But she was here and glad she had come.

And then there was Rob. It had been a year now and the ache was still there; a low grade hiss that would bubble up to her conscious from time to time, until the crush of work pushed it back down.

She circulated, exchanging pleasantries, smiles. Happily, she had run into a couple of old friends. The champagne was taking the edge off and Rachel was enjoying catching up. Facing into the fireplace, the gentle heat warmed her after the chill of Manhattan on the walk to Emma’s.

Then she felt it. A gentle sensation, her friend’s chatter receded. Instinctively she turned towards the condo’s entranceway It was him. His eyes caught hers immediately. It was the man she had seen earlier in the day as she ducked out of the office to get a sandwich. Their eyes had met for an instant on the busy street. Instantly she turned away and retreated back to the office. And now he was here.

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The beginning of a “bodice-ripper”? Perhaps. But, I feel it may illustrate the practical effect of one of the most curious examples of quantum mechanics.

As you know, quantum mechanics has been the subject of intense scrutiny for a hundred years. It is clear that the microscopic world operates with rules different than those proposed by Newton and others. And it is not well known yet. Each day produces a new mystery, a new particle, a new thought experiment that peels away ever so slightly at the boundaries of this unseen world upon which we all rest.

None is more mysterious than the concept of entanglement. At its core, entanglement describes a pair of particles that have been linked together, entangled.

The particles are then separated. Experiments have been done by CERN over distances of 11 miles.

What happens? When a property of one of the entangled particles is changed, the other distant particle immediately reacts to the change. For example, if the spin of one of the entangled pair is reversed, the other particle’s spin is immediately reversed. And I mean immediately. The yet-to-be-defined communication between particles is instantaneous, faster than the speed of light. Einstein, among others, described the effect as “spooky”, a term not favored in science.

So how does this relate to Rachel and her new friend? Simple. Somehow, somewhere, the prospective couple share entangled particles. This allows instantaneous communication, unseen and unintended.

Foolishness you say? Ask yourself, have you ever been in a situation like Rachel’s? Her back is turned, she is busy with her friends, her mind emerging from work and enjoying her friends. Suddenly she feels something and instinctively turns to see another person.

Not just a romantic situation either. Never felt someone looking at you? I think you have and I think it may just be the exotic concept of entangled particles working at a human level. After all, if they don’t act like this, what are they good for? 