Schrodinger's Cat: The Misconceptions

       The scenario of Schrodinger's Cat has somehow made it into pop culture and taken on a life of it's own; and taken on a whole new meaning.

       In the 1920's it was tough for physicists; up until then it had been just plain old Newtonian physics. This is how objects react to various forces when under other forces. Then, along comes all this research about subatomic particles and how they don't react predictably at all. A new form of physics had developed by this time: quantum mechanics. 

       Subatomic particles are funny. The more you try to observe them, the less and less natural they behave. Now, Schrodinger's Cat is a scenario relating super position to something more understandable than electrons and such, and it goes like this:

       A cat is placed in a steel bunker with a vile of deadly gas for an hour. The gas is attached to a hammer, a Geiger counter and a little bit of some radioactive material. There is then a 50/50 chance that an atom of the radioactive material may decay, releasing some radiation within that hour. The Geiger counter, if the material decays, will then release the hammer, shattering the vile of poisonous gas, thereby killing the cat.

       This scenario poses the question: is the cat alive or dead? 

       According to quantum mechanics; each one of the radioactive atoms would be in a super position of being both decayed and not decayed at the same time. Because an atom is a quantum object, this is the way they'll act, but because they're not able to be observed the state of that atom will be revealed when the bunker is opened.

       So before the bunker is opened, is the cat in both a state of being dead and alive at the same time? 

       Because a cat is not a quantum object, like a subatomic particle is, or an atom is, the cat has to be in one state of the other. So the cat in not in a state of super position, even if you were not to open the bunker. 

       The problem I have with this scenario of super position is the fact that even though the particle isn't being observed by anyone, it is technically being observed by the cat, making the atom of radioactive stuff force itself into a state of being, or not being. This can be resolved using the theory of quantum physics, or the multiple universe theory. Where, for every action there is another universe formed that uses the opposite reaction. (Sound familiar?)

       So, hopefully, by now you realize that Schrodinger's Cat was not to show that zombie cats exist, but it is to show that super position relates to quantum objects, and that the cat was just something to make the public get the idea of super position. Even though the scenario has a few flaws, it is a great way to understand quantum mechanics. 

       I hope that resolved the misconceptions of what killed the cat.