Alex,
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Andrew the point is finally I take it that one electron behaves as if is were more than one.. it is most perplexing to wonder what is going on.
There must be a simple explanation its just no one knows what it is...is that it?
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I guess that's kinda it Alex. I'm certainly no expert, but here's how I understand it from what I've read.
Mathematically the double slit experiment can be perfectly explained in terms of the wavefunction, which explains how the electron evolves over time. As the electron moves on its journey towards the slits, it's wavefunction spreads out. Think of it like this. If you have a big box and realease an electron in one corner, the chances are pretty good that straight after release it will be somewhere in that corner. If you come back in an hour it could be anywhere in the box. The wavefunction descibes this.
If by the time the electron reaches the slits its wavefunction has spread far enough to encompass both slits, it will go through both, with two new wavefunctions emerging from the other side of the slits. As they move towards the back screen they to begin to spread out, and if they start to cross over they interfere just as a "real" wave would and produce our interference pattern.
However in terms of a deeper meaning about what the electron is actually doing, that's the 64million dollar question. From what I've read there's a few interpretations. The most common seems to be the "Copenhagan" interpretation developed by Bohr, which basically says since you can't tell what's actually happening without effecting the outcome, there's no point trying. All you have available is what you can actually see, the result. There's a few other interpretations I'm aware of such as the deBroglie-Bohm and many-worlds versions. There's probably heaps more.
Andrew.