Astronomy Cast Ep. 249
"Schrodinger's Cat"
Everyone's heard of it, but not many people understand it. What IS Schrodinger's Cat? Apparently, Schrodinger's Cat wasn't a cat, but a theory. The theory stated that if a cat was placed in a sealed box with available food and water, once sealed, we have no idea whether the cat was dead or alive. This theory is about probability and how we don't actually know certain things about the unknown, until we observe it.
The theory of the cat is then expanded, to include a substance that might decay releasing a radioactive molecule, adding a gieger counter, and connected to that device a vial of poison. If the molecule is formed, the gieger counter will activate, and then knock over the poison, killing the cat. Since the molecule might or might not be produced, we don't know whether the cat is alive or not, and is therefore BOTH dead AND alive! This is a puzzle that cannot be solved by any means in the end...
No comments:
Post a Comment