Friday, December 14, 2018

Schrodinger's Cat: An Experiment of Uncertainities


There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks.”- Erwin Schrödinger

Hello and welcome to my new blog “Physics Talk” and here is my first post about the Schrodinger’s Cat.

P.S- It’s not about someone’s cat, for those of you who has no idea what it is. But worry not that’s where I come in to solve your scientific doubts. I can assure you that after reading my post you will not just learn a new thing but will also be interested to know more.

So lets begin…



Schrodinger’s Cat was a thought experiment devised by Erwin Schrodinger, a physicist who is famous for his works in Quantum Mechanics. In the 1920s, physicist Neils Bohr gave the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. It stated that a physical system does not have definite properties, like spin, unless being measured. Quantum mechanics only predicts the probability of the property. If the property is measured then the wave function collapses and a definite value of the property is obtained. Schrodinger stated the Schrodinger’s Cat experiment to show the absurdity of the Copenhagen Interpretation.

He stated that if a cat is locked in a sealed steel chamber containing the following devices: a gieger counter for counting the amount of radioactive decay and a radioactive element. In one hour one of the atoms of the radioactive element may decay or may not. If it decays it will release an atomic particle, which in turn will hit the gieger counter which will release a hammer and smash a flask containing hydrocyanic acid (poison), this will kill the cat. If the radioactive element doesn’t break down then the cat will be alive after an hour. According to Copenhagen interpretation, the cat may be both alive and dead after an hour. It can only be known if the chamber is opened. But by opening the box the experiment is interfered. Therefore, without interfering with the experiment the state of the cat can be known as the superposition of different states (dead and alive just like a zombie).

Schrodinger said that it was ridiculous. An object cannot be both dead and alive. Therefore he used this experiment to show the fault in Copenhagen Interpretation. Even Einstein agreed with Schrodinger. He even wrote Schrodinger a letter acknowledging the experiment. Although there are many articles on the internet stating that Schrodinger agreed with the Copenhagen Interpretation, but actually that was not the case.

Today there are experiments which shows that the Copenhagen Interpretation is correct for microscopic particles like electrons, positrons, etc.

So what do you think, the cat will be dead or alive?


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