A challenge to clever people - Part 2 - Schrodinger's cat

This is the second in the series in which I invite people to make video response to my questions.

In this video I address the issue of Schrodinger's cat.

My problem is this. In the classic double slit experiment the identification of the slit through which the photon passes is sufficient to collapse the wave function.

Why does the geiger counter in Schrodinger's box have the same affect and put the cat out of it's misery (or not) as the case maybe?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Schrondinger's
• cat
• double
• slit
• collapse
• wave
• function

[GuitarMannnnnn]

HOLY S*** That reply from the RSPCA was soo funny. I almost crapped my pants!

[sillysparrowness]

I'll be answering this with a video called "Schrödinger's Cat - The world's worst metaphor". Just take a look at my channel. (Welcome to another episode of "Girl against science"...)

[david52875]

@SausageKitten Actually performing this experiment wouldn't achieve anything even if he did it. It was supposed to be a critique of the copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. He was saying that if the copenhagen interpretation was correct, the cat would be both alive and dead until someone observed it.

[swanijam]

It's just a thought experiment. Relax. Schrodinger only wondered what would happen if someone did it; he never used a cat. The entire point of the thing is that, just like anything in the universe, nothing can be assumed to be true without proof. In the cat scenario, nobody can possibly know that the cat is dead or that the cat is alive until they look. You can't prove that the cat is either one, and it can't be neither, so it's both. all it is is a thought, about existence and uncertainty.

[RebbelReb]

No. No they are not. They are the Royal Society for the PRVENTION of Cruelty to Animals. They wouldn't be very active in stopping animal cruelty by Protecting said activity

[SausageKitten]

Sounds like the RSPCA isn't a big fan of clueless animal rights activists. You should do a little research, otherwise you're only setting yourself up for embarrasment. By the way, did schrodinger ever do this experiment with a cat? It sounds more like a way of explaining a concept, rather than a testable experament.

[SushantBhargav]

My right ear enjoyed his narration,

though my brain did not.

.

Shro's cat is easier to understand from a book rather than this video, good attempt though

[tantorecords]

@Czeza117 Yes but for me it shows there is no bridge between the interpretations of physics and "real" human perception. I still can't see the value of such a theory nor of such an experiment - it doesn't seem to teach us anything. It's merely amusing for some and confusing for others? No doubt that will be blasphemy of the worst kind for you physicists but shoot me if you must. :p

[Czeza117]

@tantorecords that is the point of the experiment. it shows the disparity between physics on a subatomic and general level. The point is, there is no bridge between the two interpretations of physics and the very question you posed is the source of mockery. Bridging the two theories, that is universalizing physics into one form, is the ultimate goal.

[tantorecords]

As a non quantum physicist (i'm only a feeble brained designer ;] )I may have misunderstood it, but is it not just a complicated way of saying that the cat could either be alive or dead? "The cat exists in multiple simultaneous states"? Personally I would disagree, the cat is either dead or not - we don't know because we cant see but we do know that objects cannot be both dead and alive. So to us it could be in one of two states not both. How is it existing in multiple simultaneous states?