Maybe, the most famous cat in the history of physics is Schrödinger’s Cat.
you may have heard of it before, but you don't know why it's famous?
So let's get to know why this cat is famous.
The experiment Schrödinger is a fictional experience and has no relevance to reality.
The objective of this experiment is to show the contradiction between the physics of Newton and quantum mechanics...
The British physicist Stephen Hawking says: "When I hear of Schrödinger's cat, I
reach for my gun "
because the equation seems possible by mathematical, but it's impossible, actually.
_Dear @yagoub: We know Newton's physics... But what is quantum mechanics?
Don't worry my friend I'll try to explain some of quantum mechanics...
but don't try to focus so much because you're going to get crazy.
quantum mechanics is weirder than you can imagine.
Quantum mechanics is the field of physics that tries to understand the world of subatomic ( subatomic is particles much smaller than an atom).
_This seems easy, dear @yagoub .
Unfortunately my friend... Not as you think... In quantum mechanics, everything seems random and illogical to our minds...
Scientists at the end of the 19th century thought they had discovered all about physics and understood it, but after several decades, Einstein surprised them with physicists specializing in quantum mechanics like Kenneth Bohr and Werner Heisenberg and Arden Schrodinger, and they shook their understanding Of the world of physics.
the beginning of the last century was a very confusing time for scientists, and we cannot blame them, quantum mechanics is very confusing.
All I want from you now is to make space for your imagination and put the logic aside because it has no place in quantum mechanics.
_ok, dear @yagoub, you mean that quantum mechanics is a science of small objects--smaller than atoms. but where is the weird and the random here?
That's good because you could understand this...
now we're going to try to explain the principle of Quantum superposition, which is the most bizarre part.
Quantum superposition is one of the puzzling principles of the mind, which provides for the possibility of a particle in several positions at the same time, and we cannot know what position it is .in unless we observe it.
_Can my dear @yagoub explain more?
Imagine with me that you swim in the sea and think that there is either a whale or a shark chasing you
How will you know what's chasing you?
You'll look back, of course... In order to know that it is a whale or a shark.
but according to the principle of Quantum superposition, if you don't look back, the animal chasing you is a whale and a shark at the same time...
_Dear @yagoub, I want another example.
Now imagine that you have two doors in front of you,
You can at any time cross one of the two doors, here you are like a physical particle.
Now imagine that the water flow through the two doors, i.e. the waves of water will cross both doors at the same time.
The subatomic particle behaves exactly like a wave of water that crosses both doors at the same time,
but at the moment when we observe it, the particles will stop acting like water, and it will come back to behave like you (physical particle) by crossing in one of the doors...
_Dear @yagoub, you mean subatomic cross both the two doors and cross one door at the same time.
Yes, exactly ...
If we do not observe it: it crosses both two the doors
If we observe it: it crosses one door
_ok, dear @yagoub, but where is the Schrödinger’s Cat here?
Schrödinger suggested an intellectual experiment,
there is a cat in a box, with a bottle of poison placed under a hammer that attached to a Geiger, (the Geiger is used to detect radioactivity).And in the box, some radioactive material that has 50% susceptibility to decaying
- If the radioactive material decayed, the Geiger will cause the hammer to fall on the bottle of poison, which means killing the cat.
- If the radioactive material didn’t decay, the cat will still survive...
In accordance the principle of Quantum superposition, the radioactive material is decay and not decay at the same time, that's normal, because radioactive materials are very small (subatomic)
_ok, dear @yagoub, but what can we say about the cat: is Cat Dead Or Alive?
The problem is that the cat cannot be alive and dead at the same time, and must be in one case. Schrödinger raised this intellectual experience as a contradiction between quantum mechanics and massive particle physics (Physics of Newton).
It seems easy for us to assume that subatomic can be physical particles and wave or, decay and not decay at the same time
but if you compare quantum mechanics with the world of Newton in which we live, many contradictions will emerge.
Schrodinger himself could not understand principle of Quantum superposition and developed this experiment only to prove his idea of its preposterous nature.
source pictures1 ,2
All pictures from wikimedia (all found with Google image advanced with license for modification and commercial use)
In order to learn more about Schrödinger’s Cat... You can read the references
References :
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrödinger%27s_cat
- https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/SCHRCAT.HTMr
- https://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/schrodingers-cat-dead-alive.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_superposition
- http://www.syr-res.com/article/14356.html
I will publish a scientific idea every day... And be in a simple way... To take an idea of everything.
I hope you support me....