A lot of people have heard of Schrodinger's cat, but not many know the purpose behind the thought experiment.
Schrodinger came up with a thought experiment
A cat is placed in a box with a Geiger counter, a hammer, a radioactive substance, and a vial of poison. Once the radioactive material decays, the Geiger will detect and trigger the hammer to smash the vial of poison. This kills the cat. The decaying of the radioactive material is completely random. → Meaning that the cat status cannot be determined and it's status is considered to be both dead and alive. Key word to know: SUPERPOSITION (pretty much meaning adding multiple quantum states together... in this case the cat having both dead and alive statuses)
Um, why?
The Schrodinger's cat paradox was used to critique the Copenhagen Interpretation saying that the quantum mechanics behind Copenhagen interpretation for everyday big objects (like stuff that's not atoms, classically big stuff) is not very good at describing what's going on.
What is Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics?
The Copenhagen Interpretation basically said that the superposition of a quantum system will only cease once observed, and once observed (just once you know what is going on), the superposition collapses into definite states.
Schrodinger's cat today
New studies are revealing that the weirdness of really small things being able to exist in several states at once may also extend to big things (like cats!!!)... but other new studies are also revealing that this weirdness may not extend to big things (like cats!!!) too..........
Quantum physics: Schrodinger's cat is still alive (challenge of achieving ground state... to show cat object quantum superposition can exist, cat object system need to be at quantum ground state to begin experiment--- hard to do!!!! but possible by coupling between cat oscillator and laser light cooled electron spin)
Schrodinger's cat is now fat (superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) rings show current decay through quantum mechanical tunnelling... oscillation between two states characterized by clockwise or counterclockwise current flow of SQUID ring dunked in microwaves show coherence gap)
How gravity kills Schrodinger's cat (maybe in space, cats can have quantum coherence, but on Earth it is not possible because gravity)
Fattening up Schrodinger's cat (physicists in Austria made fat Schrodinger cats of up to 430 atoms wide)
Reincarnation can save Schrodinger's cat (people from University of California Santa Barbara un-collapsed an almost collapsed quantum state by shooting microwaves at a phase qubit)
IMAGE SOURCE: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/04/bb/18/04bb1878f1a377f4c5064d3112deba82.jpg
SOURCE: Wrachtrup, Jörg. "Quantum Physics: Schrödinger's Cat Is Still Alive." Nat Phys Nature Physics 5.4 (2009): 248-49. Web., Blatter, Gianni. "Schrödinger's Cat Is Now Fat." Nature 406.6791 (2000): 25-26. Web., Gibney, Elizabeth. "How Gravity Kills Schrödinger's Cat." Nature (2015): n. pag. Print., Ball, Philip. "Fattening up Schrödinger's Cat." Nature (2011): n. pag. Print., Merali, Zeeya. "Reincarnation Can save Schrödinger's Cat." Nature (2008): n. pag. Web.
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