What's up with schrodingers cat?

Question

I know all about schrodingers mental excercise, using a cat and a decaying atomic nucleous to describe a paradox in quantum mechanics, etc. But I saw someone wearing a shirt that said, "Schrodingers cat is not dead" and I want to know exactly what that means. Saying the cat is dead means what? Are their people who debate his cat is alive? And then what does that mean? Or is the shirt just used to express that they know about schrodinger/quantum mechanics?

Answer 1

I'm sure the shirt was just a joke, but what refers to is that basically what Shroedinger was saying is that while the cat is in the box, its neither alive nor dead due to an inherent uncertainty in it's state. Once you open the box, the cat stops being in an "indertiminate" state and is found to be dead or alive, a discrete state. Before it was neither dead or alive, now it is dead, or alive. We say that the Cat's wave function has collapsed or decomposed.

Answer 2

Schrodinger made his "cat in a box" analogy to illustrate the incompleteness of quantum theory at the time, i.e. that it was ridiculous to say that a particle can exist simultaneously in two places at once until it is observed, just like it is ridiculous to say that a cat is both alive and dead at the same time, until one opens the box and the cat's state becomes fixed due to being observed.

So I would say the shirt is either meant to question the validity of quantum theory, or else the wearer has watched "What the Bleep Do We Know" one too many times. It would be more clever if the shirt also read "Schrodinger's cat is not alive" on the back.

Answer 3

Obviously, you DON'T know about the cat and you do not undrstand the paradox. The whole point is that there is NO way to determine if the cat is dead or alive until you open the box and see the result, firsthand and in person. This is the uncertainty principle of Heisenberg put into practice. Heisenberg said you can not know the state of anything unless you take part and interact with that something, and when you do, it changes the result. You cannot know without interaction and by interacting, you change the result.

Answer 4

It's an attempt at humor. The whole point of Schrodinger's mental exercise is that until you open the box, the cat is alive AND dead.

Answer 5

If you got a better look at the shirt, you would probably see that it says "Schrodinger's cat is dead" on one side and "Schrodinger's cat is not dead" on the other side.

Answer 6

Come on... you are intellegent enough to comprehend a little bit of Quantum physics ... then comprehend a joking t-shirt ... Schrodingers cat never dies. OK ? Don't worry. It is a thought experiment ... just like Einstien's conjectures.

With all respect due to the principle of uncertainty.

Answer 7

They are referring to the very experiment that lead scientist to using a 'control'.

Cat in a metal box, Poison gas cylinder, Is the cat dead when I fill this box with poisonous gas? Or does the cat die when I open the lid?

Answer 8

Whats up is his cat is wanted dead or alive.

Answer 9

They jst want to advertise that they are a geek. Similar to someone wearing a shirt saying "I Love Nerds"

Answer 10

Yes.


Doug