Superposition lets separate experiments be combined to predict simultaneous ones

Evidence

You can run scenario A in the lab on Monday (for example, hit a metal plate on the left side), run scenario B on Tuesday (hit the same metal plate on the right side), collect the data, and on Wednesday add the data from Monday and Tuesday, using the moment of the strike as t = 0 in both cases. On Thursday, you can run both A and B at once, striking the plate on both sides simultaneously, and collect that data. On Friday, your analysis will reveal that the resulting sound and motion of the plate is the same, whether you really struck it in two places at once or added up the sound and motion from individual strikes on a computer. A good week’s work, and you’ll never forget the principle of linear superposition. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 838

Categorization

• DEFINE: A vivid, concrete operational definition of linear superposition — that outcomes of separate trials add linearly to predict combined trials.
• SHARE: The ‘Monday through Friday’ experimental design is a lovely way to explain superposition to a science-communicator friend.
• XREF: connects to: Probability rules assume events are independent of each other — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 193