Just curious as to what it is because i heard it mentioned once before.
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It's a thought experiment, not a real experiment. The idea is that you put a cat in a box with something that may or may not kill it in a given time frame. Until you open the box, you don't know if the cat is alive or dead. In the terms of quantum mechanics (the physics of the very small - assume the cat is a sub-atomic particle) you don't know which state it's in, alive or dead. So it's both until you make an observation, and the observation (opening the box) forces it into one of those states - alive or dead. Until we make the observation, it's both at the same time, what we call a superposition of states. It's saying that we don't know what the state of a particle is until we measure it, but measuring it changes the state of the particle, forcing it to be something.
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If you're referring to Schrödinger's cat, which you probably are since it's very famous, it's an experiment he invented to illustrate a certain property of quantum physics.
It's based on a paradox, where you have a cat in a box that also contains a poison that will activate only if this one atom disintegrates. Since the disintegration of an atom is random event, there are as many chances for the poison to have been released or not, and therefore as many chances for the cat to be either dead or alive.
We can't know for certain until we open the box, to see either a dead cat or an living one. Until you peek, the cat is dead AND alive at the same time, that's where the paradox lies.
In quantum mechanics, this property is called quantum superposition : a particle is simultaneously in two different states, and as soon as you observe that particle you destroy the quantum superposition, that is, the particle choses one state and one only (and as soon as you observe the cat it either becomes dead or alive, therefor canceling the superposition).
I hope this answer helped you out :)
It's based on a paradox, where you have a cat in a box that also contains a poison that will activate only if this one atom disintegrates. Since the disintegration of an atom is random event, there are as many chances for the poison to have been released or not, and therefore as many chances for the cat to be either dead or alive.
We can't know for certain until we open the box, to see either a dead cat or an living one. Until you peek, the cat is dead AND alive at the same time, that's where the paradox lies.
In quantum mechanics, this property is called quantum superposition : a particle is simultaneously in two different states, and as soon as you observe that particle you destroy the quantum superposition, that is, the particle choses one state and one only (and as soon as you observe the cat it either becomes dead or alive, therefor canceling the superposition).
I hope this answer helped you out :)
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I don't know, let me Google it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6d…
It seems to say that a cat is placed in a box with a device that may or may not randomly kill it. As an outsider you cannot say with certainty whether the cat is alive or dead without opening the box, so you're forced to assume the cat is both alive and dead at the same time.
It seems to say that a cat is placed in a box with a device that may or may not randomly kill it. As an outsider you cannot say with certainty whether the cat is alive or dead without opening the box, so you're forced to assume the cat is both alive and dead at the same time.