Schrödinger's cat thought experiment illustrates quantum superposition
Schrödinger's cat
Schrödinger's cat thought experiment illustrates quantum superposition
Schrödinger's cat thought experiment was created by physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It involves a hypothetical cat in a closed box that is simultaneously alive and dead due to its fate being linked to a random subatomic event.
Example
In the thought experiment, a cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box. If an internal radiation monitor detects radioactivity, the flask is shattered, releasing the poison and killing the cat. If no decaying atom triggers the monitor, the cat remains alive.
Remember this
This thought experiment highlights the paradoxical nature of quantum mechanics and challenges our understanding of reality.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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