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Thread ID: 58884	2005-06-15 00:21:00	Quantum Mechanics' Schrodinger’s Cat - 6.07 pm Wed 15th	Strommer (42)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
364035	2005-06-15 00:21:00	For all Sci-Geeks: 6.07 PM The E=mc² Lectures, Radio New Zealand (radionz.co.nz) Live from the Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University - a science special celebrating the centenary of Albert Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. Including the final of The E=mc2 Lectures, "The Mad, Mad World of Schrodinger’s Cat: Why No One Understands Quantum Mechanics" - presented by Professor Tom Barnes, University of Auckland. Wednesday 15 June ...and stay tuned for: 8.30 PM Digital Life - The people and the stories behind new technologies	Strommer (42)
364036	2005-06-15 00:27:00	I had a cat once. But when I opened the box it was dead.	Biggles (121)
364037	2005-06-15 00:29:00	And is your cat dead and alive at the same time ?? Uncertainty rules !!	TonyF (246)
364038	2005-06-15 00:37:00	Bruce. In future take the cat out of the box when you first get it.	mark c (247)
364039	2005-06-15 01:02:00	I wonder what the SPCA thinks about Mr Schodinger? I can see it now on that SPCA reality show they have on TVNZ ... The SPCA gets a report of a Mr Schrodinger who is keeping dead cat's in boxes. When they challenge him, he asks them to prove the cat was dead, before they opened the box. "It's your fault" he says. "If you hadn't opened the box, the cat migh still be alive ...."	Biggles (121)
364040	2005-06-15 02:48:00	Thanks Steve. Should be good. Incidentally the cat is alive in another universe. :thumbs:	Winston001 (3612)
364041	2005-06-15 02:53:00	I had a cat once. But when I opened the box it was dead. 6 minutes for a witty reply - you did not let me down, Brucie! :thumbs: OK, for those who may be scratching their heads, or arses :lol: as the case may be, wondering what prompts venerable Bruce to write aobut dead cats, here you go: Schrödinger's cat is a famous illustration of the principle in quantum theory of superposition, proposed by Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. Schrödinger's cat serves to demonstrate the apparent conflict between what quantum theory tells us is true about the nature and behavior of matter on the microscopic level and what we observe to be true about the nature and behavior of matter on the macroscopic level. Here's Schrödinger's (theoretical) experiment: We place a living cat into a steel chamber, along with a device containing a vial of hydrocyanic acid. There is, in the chamber, a very small amount of a radioactive substance. If even a single atom of the substance decays during the test period, a relay mechanism will trip a hammer, which will, in turn, break the vial and kill the cat. The observer cannot know whether or not an atom of the substance has decayed, and consequently, cannot know whether the vial has been broken, the hydrocyanic acid released, and the cat killed. Since we cannot know, the cat is both dead and alive according to quantum law, in a superposition of states. It is only when we break open the box and learn the condition of the cat that the superposition is lost, and the cat becomes one or the other (dead or alive). This situation is sometimes called quantum indeterminacy or the observer's paradox: the observation or measurement itself affects an outcome, so that it can never be known what the outcome would have been if it were not observed. We know that superposition actually occurs at the subatomic level, because there are observable effects of interference, in which a single particle is demonstrated to be in multiple locations simultaneously. What that fact implies about the nature of reality on the observable level (cats, for example, as opposed to electrons) is one of the stickiest areas of quantum physics. Schrödinger himself is rumored to have said, later in life, that he wished he had never met that cat. BTW, note that this page is listed as: "Computing Fundamentals -- General Computing Terms" For more of this sci-geek stuff go here (webs.mn.catholic.edu.au) and be sure to scroll down to see "Discussion of Schrodinger's Cat". and if you are half brain dead, then try this explanation for 11 - 12 year old kids (www.mtnmath.com) ;) But keep the humour going guys... :D	Strommer (42)
364042	2005-06-15 07:34:00	Lecture starts at 7 PM. At the moment it is general chit chat about the upcoming lecture series, etc. Professor Tom Calahan will give the lecture, promised to be "a lot of fun" and not dry boring science. I have heard Calahan speak before and he is absolutely brilliant, probably the best ever I have heard, sort of like David Bellamy but brighter. ;)	Strommer (42)
364043	2005-06-15 07:43:00	It was indeed general chitchat ( including the Minister !). I guess they had a timewarp...Roll on 7 PM.	TonyF (246)
364044	2005-06-15 09:49:00	I had a cat once. But when I opened the box it was dead. The lesson today kiddies is never ever use knives to open boxes as Mr. Buckman has just found out	Edward (31)
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