Schrodingers Cat (again)

By finding out the state of the cat (dead or alive) you are collapsing the wavefunction to a single defined state. Before you open the box, the cat is in both states.
 
Some nogooder has put a cat in a box without any food or water and now he doesn't know if its dead or alive! :mad:
RSPCA imo.
 
Samtheman1k said:
WIKI
Click to expand...

Read that but it was too much for my tiny little brain.

I think in a previous quantum physics thread someone posted a link to a great little fred alan wolf video (possibly cartoon style) about electrons or something? Anyone remember?
 
ok I think I can help you here with my version:

There is a cat in a box, with a device that emits a deadly poison and will kill the cat. The chance of the poison being set off is EXACTLY 50/50. If you open the box to find out whether the cat is dead, then the poison is set off and the cat dies.

SO.... with the chance of the cat being alive or dead being 50/50 (and with no way to find out) the cat is both alive and dead at the same time. The cat is not alive or dead until you open the box to find out.... and even then you kill the cat.

In the quantum world: various radiations (electrons, light, etc) can behave and act as either a wave OR a particle.... not both.

however, studies have found that if you try to observe whether the (eg) the photon is a wave or particle then you make the photon behave as such.

I.E if you are looking for a wave, the photon is a wave and if you are looking for a particle, it is a particle - it seems the very act of observing the photon determines whether it is a wave or particle, and therefore BEFORE you observe the photon - it is simultaneously BOTH a wave and a particle!!

pretty cool huh?
 
Docaroo said:
ok I think I can help you here with my version.........
Click to expand...

That is perfect. Thanks very much. I think that last part you mentioned was illustarted in the little video I spoke of but I can't seem to find it.
 
my pleasure sir, I find the problem with this is that people just find it hard to explain in normal, simple terms and always go way too far when it's actually easy to explain!
 
Are you allowed to shake the box and then put it to your ear to see if you can hear any mewing from within?

Yes, I did read the whole thread. I'm hoping for a cheap laugh.
 
Does it really actually matter if a cat in a sealed box with no food or water is actually alive or dead? You know that if you leave it there long enough, its going to die anyway, so whats the point in keeping coming back to the box at random intervals to try and determine if its died yet?

If you cared about the state of the cats health so much you shouldnt put it in there in the first place.
 
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Courtesy of b3ta
 
its an analogy for a subatomic particle - they have the properties of both particles and waves and can therefore not be accurately described by either a particle or a wave - when you measure a system you have to affect what you are measuring (it is impossible to measure something without affecting it) - so, depending on how you measure the , say, electron, photon etc, you will see either its particle properties or its wave properties.

the point is that photons and (others) have the properties of both waves and particles, but they are something new and different - they are neither particles nor waves.
 
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