Schrodinger's Cat

[Felix Culpa]

In 1935, a physicist named Erwin Schrodinger made a thought experiment (also commonly thought of as a paradox).

 

It goes somewhat like this:

 

You put a cat in a steel chamber that is rigged with a device that releases a volatile poison at a random time. Without opening the box, you cannot know whether the cat is alive or dead, and therefore, until you open the chamber, the cat is considered both alive and dead at the same time.

 

Discuss this paradox.

[J-Max]

Not being able to see the Cat would obviously put the situation into a Continuous Loop. The Cat may be Dead from the Poison but the Cat may have natural resistances to it. The thought of this could easily drive a person insane.

[Felix Culpa]

Yes, but it is a part of quantum physics.

 

Unless you can physically see the cat, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead.

[BehindTheMask]

By definition, the cat cannot be both alive and dead.

 

Just because you are uncertain of the state it is in, does not automatically grant it the properties "alive" and "dead".

 

V___V

[Yankee]

Actually, it would be fairly easy to know if it's alive of not.

There is no real paradox here.

[Skuldur]

He's dead. ;D

[PenguinZ]

Actually' date=' it would be fairly easy to know if it's alive of not.

There is no real paradox here.

[/quote']

 

^This^, the cat cannot be dead and alive at the same time, he can only be dead and alive in your mind, it's a mind game that goes on forever, it's "all in your head", if the cat has no resistance, it's dead.

[Yankee]

Actually' date=' it would be fairly easy to know if it's alive of not.

There is no real paradox here.

[/quote']

 

^This^, the cat cannot be dead and alive at the same time, he can only be dead and alive in your mind, it's a mind game that goes on forever, it's "all in your head", if the cat has no resistance, it's dead.

 

He's arguing that there is a 50/50 chance the cat is immune to the poison.

 

 

Either way, it would be easy to know if it was dead or alive.

[Mehmani]

Actually' date=' it would be fairly easy to know if it's alive of not.

There is no real paradox here.

[/quote']

 

^This^, the cat cannot be dead and alive at the same time, he can only be dead and alive in your mind, it's a mind game that goes on forever, it's "all in your head", if the cat has no resistance, it's dead.

 

He's arguing that there is a 50/50 chance the cat is immune to the poison.

 

 

Either way, it would be easy to know if it was dead or alive.

 

WRONG.

 

If the cat is in the box and you don't know whether the poison has been released or not (say the chamber has been soundproofed) then you do not know whether it could be alive or dead. It COULD be alive, but it COULD be dead.

[PenguinZ]

Actually' date=' it would be fairly easy to know if it's alive of not.

There is no real paradox here.

[/quote']

 

^This^, the cat cannot be dead and alive at the same time, he can only be dead and alive in your mind, it's a mind game that goes on forever, it's "all in your head", if the cat has no resistance, it's dead.

 

He's arguing that there is a 50/50 chance the cat is immune to the poison.

 

 

Either way, it would be easy to know if it was dead or alive.

 

WRONG.

 

If the cat is in the box and you don't know whether the poison has been released or not (say the chamber has been soundproofed) then you do not know whether it could be alive or dead. It COULD be alive, but it COULD be dead.

 

 

Also true.

[Mehmani]

You don't know. Theoretically speaking, it is both alive and dead because the consequences are of equal chance and unknown.

[Yankee]

Actually' date=' it would be fairly easy to know if it's alive of not.

There is no real paradox here.

[/quote']

 

^This^, the cat cannot be dead and alive at the same time, he can only be dead and alive in your mind, it's a mind game that goes on forever, it's "all in your head", if the cat has no resistance, it's dead.

 

He's arguing that there is a 50/50 chance the cat is immune to the poison.

 

 

Either way, it would be easy to know if it was dead or alive.

 

WRONG.

 

If the cat is in the box and you don't know whether the poison has been released or not (say the chamber has been soundproofed) then you do not know whether it could be alive or dead. It COULD be alive, but it COULD be dead.

 

Heat detection.

If it was alive, it would give off a heat signature.

If dead, it wouldn't.

If you add on a "Oh, you can't do that", then you're just trying to win the argument for the sake of winning.

 

Thanks for playing, however.

[Mehmani]

Actually' date=' it would be fairly easy to know if it's alive of not.

There is no real paradox here.

[/quote']

 

^This^, the cat cannot be dead and alive at the same time, he can only be dead and alive in your mind, it's a mind game that goes on forever, it's "all in your head", if the cat has no resistance, it's dead.

 

He's arguing that there is a 50/50 chance the cat is immune to the poison.

 

 

Either way, it would be easy to know if it was dead or alive.

 

WRONG.

 

If the cat is in the box and you don't know whether the poison has been released or not (say the chamber has been soundproofed) then you do not know whether it could be alive or dead. It COULD be alive, but it COULD be dead.

 

Heat detection.

If it was alive, it would give off a heat signature.

If dead, it wouldn't.

If you add on a "Oh, you can't do that", then you're just trying to win the argument for the sake of winning.

 

Thanks for playing, however.

 

Adding a heat detector would reveal the mystery. Without a heat detector the consequences are unknown.

 

Anyway, did Schrodinger mention his steel chamber having heat detectors? In his time, there were no heat detectors that could see through solid steel. In the modern era we could use one but in his time they couldn't.

[Yankee]

Actually' date=' it would be fairly easy to know if it's alive of not.

There is no real paradox here.

[/quote']

 

^This^, the cat cannot be dead and alive at the same time, he can only be dead and alive in your mind, it's a mind game that goes on forever, it's "all in your head", if the cat has no resistance, it's dead.

 

He's arguing that there is a 50/50 chance the cat is immune to the poison.

 

 

Either way, it would be easy to know if it was dead or alive.

 

WRONG.

 

If the cat is in the box and you don't know whether the poison has been released or not (say the chamber has been soundproofed) then you do not know whether it could be alive or dead. It COULD be alive, but it COULD be dead.

 

Heat detection.

If it was alive, it would give off a heat signature.

If dead, it wouldn't.

If you add on a "Oh, you can't do that", then you're just trying to win the argument for the sake of winning.

 

Thanks for playing, however.

 

Adding a heat detector would reveal the mystery. Without a heat detector the consequences are unknown.

 

Anyway, did Schrodinger mention his steel chamber having heat detectors? In his time, there were no heat detectors that could see through solid steel. In the modern era we could use one but in his time they couldn't.

 

His time: Paradox

Our time: lol

[J-Max]

As I already mentioned. It's all in the Mind. All things in Life are a 50/50 gamble. Worrying about it will only force it into a continuous loop.

[Juuzou]

[JadenxAtemYAOI]

The cat could be considered as alive and dead physically as well because if the poison has been released a portion of the body could be dead already in that area but the immune system in another particular area could be alive fighting off the poison. You could think of it as a person in this box but the temperature is on 23 degrees Fahrenheit. A portion of the body has frostbite and the other is still fighting the cold temperature because in the mammal's body there are vital points in which you're temperature resistance is different.

But back to the poison. People could have infections from the selected poison. I'm sure you've seen pictures of bodies with decaying skin and very infected parts of the body while the other parts look perfectly normal.

[Yankee]

From what I understand, unless proven otherwise, the creature/being is considered alive.

[JadenxAtemYAOI]

From what I understand' date=' unless proven otherwise, the creature/being is considered alive.

[/quote']

 

How would be go about proving it in this case. video experiment?

[Yankee]

You don't, thinking of the technology they had then.

Until it's proven dead, it's alive.

[JadenxAtemYAOI]

You don't' date=' thinking of the technology they had then.

Until it's proven dead, it's alive.

[/quote']

yet you aren't allowed to see it. I'll go with what is said above. Soundproof box. It is alive and dead depending on where your state of sanity is. A relationship with the cat could make you think it is more likely to be dead than alive. Say you've had the cat for 16 years and you raised it since it was a kitten. You will be fearing it is more likely to be dead than alive.

[Yankee]

Meh, I'm talking on completely technical terms. Until proven otherwise, it's alive.

[Zimiri of the Muse]

what kinda person puts a cat in a box and randomly sets a poisonous gas timer?

[Godot]

Oh, Schrödinger, one of the most underrated Physicists of all time. I love this "paradox."

 

what kinda person puts a cat in a box and randomly sets a poisonous gas timer?

 

A genius.

[Felix Culpa]

Oh' date=' Schrödinger, one of the most underrated Physicists of all time. I love this "paradox."

[/quote']

 

As do I, Ice. It's a shame most of the people who posted here don't understand quantum theory. If they did, they wouldn't have posted such third rate responses.

 

Schrodinger is explaining that unless you can see the cat, you must assume that the cat is both alive and dead, but if you can see the cat, you can determine whether the cat is either alive or dead.