the cat is alive

8/19/2019 The Cat is Alive

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The Cat is Alive… And Dead … At the

Same Time?

A cat is placed in a closed box with a vile of radioactivesubstance that may or may not decay, both of equal probability,

over the time span of an hour. If the atoms of the radioactive

substance do decay, it will trigger a hammer that will break a vile

of hydrogen cyanide (prussic acid) that will denitely kill the cat

once it comes into contact due to the cyanide ion that halts

cellular respiration.

!hen the cat is placed inside the closed box, an external

observer would not know if the cat is dead or alive unless the box

is opened and the cat is found to be either dead "# alive. $uring

the time when the box is closed, however, there is no way of knowing whether the cat is dead or alive. %o it can be said that

the cat is in a superposition.

&he cat is both dead A'$ alive.

At frst glance, it is impossible to not to

think how ridiculous this statement is (a

creature cannot be both dead and alive at the

same time?!), not to mention what a

nonsensical jargon that precedes it. You cant

even read the euation!

"his is actuall# a parado$, or a thought

e$periment (a purel# theoretical, almost

alwa#s illogical e$periment in ones mind),

that was designed in %&' b# an Austrianscientist, rwin *chrodinger, to e$plain a


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deeper idea+ uantum -echanics, the ph#sics at the atomic level. "his

thought e$periment is given the name *chrodingers at.

*chrodingers at serves as a doorwa# to the peculiarities o/

uantum -echanics. 0ne o/ the implication o/ this parado$ is the idea

that all particles (i.e. electrons, photons, etc.) show wave1like nature.

"his is scientifcall# termed 2ave13article 4ualit#. 2hen a particle is

observed in certain wa#, it will show wave1like behaviour. 2hen a wave is

observed in a di5erent wa#, it will show particle1like behaviour.

2ait6 2ait a

second. A particle

acting as a wave. 7ow

is that even remotel#

possible? A particle is a

particle and a particle

travels like a ball. A

wave is a wave and the#

move in an oscillating

manner. 7ow can a

particle behave as a wave and a wave behave like a particle?

8elieve it or not, it is true. 2ell, we can take light as an e$ample.

9ight can be di5racted and can inter/ere with one another as an# other

waves would. "here/ore, it must be a wave. 8ut at the same time, we also

know that light consists o/ particles called photons. "he# must be

particle, then. :/ light must be a wave and it also must be a particle, then

light has to behave both as a particle and a wave. 2ave13article 4ualit# is

true! (Ya# /or -athematical ;easoning!).

*o, what can we learn /rom this? 4ont be so uick on sa#ing that

others are wrong and that #ou are the onl# one who is right when #our

ideas contradict the others. 9ook at it in di5erent perspectives. -ore

o/ten than not, #ou will fnd that the dualit# e$ists ever#where. :t all

depends on how #ou look at it.

ERWIN SCHRODINGER

1887-1961


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It seems as though we must use sometimes the one theory and

sometimes the other, while at times we may use either. !e are

faced with a new kind of diculty. !e have two contradictory

pictures of reality* separately neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do+ Albert

-instein

감사

the cat is alive

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