Panic Disorder 411
Schrödinger's Cat
Schrödinger's Cat and Cecil Adams' Poem
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Erwin Schrödinger is well known for his thought
experiment of Schrodinger’s Cat, which contemplates what a
superposition of quantum states might mean on a macroscopic
level.
Quantum superposition is a fundamental principle of quantum
mechanics that holds that a physical system, such as an electron,
exists in all its particular theoretically possible states (or
configuration of its properties) simultaneously, but, when
measured or observed, it gives a result corresponding to only one
of the possible configurations.
Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, sometimes
described as a paradox, and was devised by Austrian physicist
Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the
problem of superposition applied to everyday objects, resulting
in a contradiction with common sense. The scenario presents a cat
that may be both alive and dead, depending on an earlier random
event.
According to Schrödinger
"One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up
in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must
be secured against direct interference by the cat): In a Geiger
counter, there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small
that perhaps in the course of the hour, one of the atoms decays,
but also, with equal probability, perhaps none. If it happens,
the counter tube discharges, and through a relay releases a
hammer that shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic
acid.”
"If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one
would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has
decayed. The psi- function (wave function of space and time) of
the entire system would express this by having in it the living
and dead cat mixed or smeared out in equal parts. It is typical
of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the
atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy,
which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents
us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for
representing reality. In itself, it would not embody anything
unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky
or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog
banks."
The Story of Schrödinger's Cat by Cecil Adams
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