http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_20090305.shtml
The most famous fruit in physics is an apple, but
the most famous animal in physics is a cat. It
belongs to Edwin Schrödinger, a theoretical
physicist who in the early 20th century helped to
develop the radical theories of Quantum
Mechanics. Schrödingers cat does not actually
exist it is the subject of a thought experiment
in which the rules of quantum mechanics make it
appear both dead and alive at the same time.
The problem of a cat that is both dead and alive
illustrates the challenges of quantum physics and
at the heart of this apparent absurdity is a
thing called the measurement problem.
The measurement problem arises because we dont
really understand how the atoms that constitute
our world behave. They are fundamentally
mysterious to us, even shocking, and they defy
our attempts to measure and make sense of them.
Possible solutions range from the existence of
multiple realities to the rather more mundane
possibility of an error in our mathematics - but
a solution, if found, could transform our understanding of reality.
.
_____________
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.........
.
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