any thoughts?

GregV814

Well-Known Member
Schrodinger's Cat is a cute little scenario demonstrating the problems of translating the intricacies of quantum mechanics to the real world level of physical interaction.

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle states that we cannot accurately measure the speed of a particle and the position of a particle with equal certainty, because the process of measuring the one necessarily affects the behavior of the other. So the behavior of subatomic particles (e.g. the decay of particles, the orbital of an electron) is measured through a system of probability. (Major layman's terms here, sorry.)

Imagine, then, that we have a cat, locked in an airtight, fully sealed box, with a tiny piece of radioactive material -- so small that in the course of an hour, perhaps one atom decays -- and a flask of vaporous poison, whose release is activated by the decay of an atom. Given that we cannot directly measure the decay of that atom while the box is sealed, our quantum measurement of that decay is then expressed as a probability: fifty percent.

The quandary is this: if the decay of the atom has been measured at 50%, it means a 50% chance that the poison has been released and has killed the cat. And if, after an hour, we have not opened the box to check on the cat's condition, then we don't know whether it's dead or not. And by the rules of quantum physics, the cat can be said to be in a 50% alive, 50% dead state, dependent on the probability that an atom decayed within that hour.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
I doubt the cat can hold it's breath for an hour.

The best way to test this out would be to use Lu La. The 5th Chinese brother as the test subject. I bet Mr. Hahn knows how to get in touch with him.
 
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