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Albert Einstein, boson, cat, Copenhagen interpretation, Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, gluon, higgs, photon, psychology, quantum, Quantum mechanics, quark, Schrödinger's cat, Schrodinger, science, Thought, Thought experiment
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Schrodinger’s Quantum Cat
There is a reason that science can’t pronounce Schrodinger’s Cat dead or alive! Here is why: so, just for fun, think about it! Well, when the box is opened, if you look at the cat, a decision is final… only then is the cat found to be dead or alive. Otherwise, the quantum cat is either or neither… or, as was further suggested, the cat is both dead and alive. Now, this is STRANGE; to say the least. In another few installments, I want take this to some extremes. If you stick around, this cat puzzle will be only the tip of the huge unknown that is becoming known because of this very experiment. This strange thought experiment led to amazing discoveries about the properties of light, quarks, bosons, a time-space fabric, and lots more. Einstein probably can’t rest… its that exciting… so exciting that even grade school kids love learning about physics. This experiment led also to exploring the nature of consciousness and that is what I most want to explore.Strange but possibly true:
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Related articles
- Schrodinger’s cat (Wikipedia.com)
- Schrödinger’s Cat explained (telegraph.co.uk)
- Google Doodle Celebrates Physicist Erwin Schrödinger … and Cats! (newsfeed.time.com)
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I always feel like I’m missing something when I hear about Schrodinger’s cat. I suspect it has something to do with the nature of radioactivity. I think I’d get it if I knew more about uranium. As it is, I stay too focused on the cat.
Sure — the thing is that the radioactive particle may decay or not — eventually it will, but its unknown when exactly — its unpredictable that way.
That makes sense. I just wish I could see how that makes the cat alive and dead. I mean, maybe I can. Just a little. Sine the state of the particle (?) has to be observed to be determined, everything is in flux (or worse) until an observation is made. That makes sense. I don’t know why it took me so long to get it.
yes. Eventually, I’ll demonstrate how this is involved with thought… I think.
see also: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/156673-the-first-quantum-entanglement-of-photons-through-space-and-time where particles are observed as pairs of particles that have been separated.
Sounds like hogwash to me.
In the 1920’s Max Planck suggested that light consists of tiny, indivisible packets of energy. These particles, called photons, became known as the “quanta” of light. Albert Einstein showed that this quantum hypothesis explained the way light strips electrons out of metals (the photoelectric effect). It was for this, not the theory of relativity, that he won his Nobel prize. Quantum mechanics is one of the most reliable theories in science. Yet, witnessing an event is perhaps what locks it in to (a) reality. Objects can be in many places at once. Particles behave like waves of particles and yet like individual particles; energy is grainy. If we accept these paradoxes, quantum theory works. Sure, it sounds like hogwash to put it your way. Your prize theories about how life came to be and on evolution must hold up to the superior science — good luck.
I think quantum mechanics is merely the best model we can conceive at the moment, and like atomic physics it will someday be replaced by a better one. It is “correct” in the sense that it works and is useful but I doubt it’s the whole truth.
Yes, the complete truth of how the universe works is unknown and perhaps knowing this is impossible. However, use of new technology is under way and we shall see what becomes of it.
I’m hopeful : )
ALSO: Einstein attacked the idea that a pair of quantum particles instantly determine the state of the one another no matter how far apart they may be from one another. It’s not just that you don’t know until you measure, it is that the state of the particles is undecided until then. The effect of the measurement is instantaneous–faster than light, across any cosmic distance to the other particle. Einstein argued its absurd. It isn’t. Experiments established beyond any doubt that instantaneous action at a distance (entanglement) is real… its how quantum mechanics works — also any possibility is possible.
RE: Quantum entanglement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement
I can’t wrap my head around it, but it’s interesting.