Schrödinger's cat

Quantum mechanics is a weird world. It’s the base of nearly all modern physics. It explains everything: from how atoms work and their structure to how chemistry and biology work. It allow us to understand many things, such as why the sun keeps exploding and how solar energy is made, thanks to turning photons of light into electrical current.

However, its equations cannot assure exact predictions or results. For example, we cannot predict the exact position of an electron, but the probabilities of certain values.

The most common way of interpretation was formulated by Bohr and Heisenberg. They called it the Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum Physics.

Schrödinger, a Nobel awarded Austrian-Irish physicist, is known for developing the Schrödinger equation, with which is possible to calculate the wave function of a system and how it changes dynamically in time.

Also, he designed the so called ‘Schrödinger’s Cat’ experiment, in order to show how if quantum mechanics is taken literally, in any of its ultimate implications, the results could lie on absurd conclusions.

This experiment portrays the paradox of a cat that is dead and alive at the same time. This is due to some strange implications of the Quantum Mechanics interpretation carried out by Bohr and Heisenberg.

Schrödinger’s experiment

In the experiment, we place a cat in a box with a radioactive substance, and seal it. When the substance breaks down, it triggers a Geiger counter (used to measure radioactivity), which causes an explosion that kills the cat.

But, the break down of the radioactive substance follows the laws of quantum physics. Thus, the atom is in a combined state of going and not going to decay. In the experiment the box is locked, thereby there are no observers that can tell if the cat is dead or alive. Therefore, the whole experiment stays as a combination of the two possibilities, and the cat ends up both dead and alive at the same time.