Schrodinger’s Cat… What’s It All About?

You may have heard or read about Schrodinger’s Cat and wondered “Hmmm, what the heck is that?” And you wouldn’t be alone! Many of us have heard about Schrodinger’s Cat without understanding what it means.

So…. Put simply, Schrodinger’s Cat is a thought experiment that’s guided many theories in quantum physics. It’s named after Erwin Schrodinger, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. Let’s delve into exactly what it’s all about.

Is Schrodinger’s cat alive or dead?

The basic question goes something like this: If you place a cat in a box with a device that has a 50% chance of killing the cat in the next hour, at the end of that hour is the cat alive or dead?

Now, it seems pretty obvious there’s a 50/50 chance the cat is either alive or dead, right? Schrodinger’s theory, however, says that in the moment before you open the box the cat is equal parts alive and dead. Until you open the box to see the results, according to quantum physics the cat is both at the same time.

This is pretty confusing, and that’s kind of the point. He found the philosophy behind quantum physics so disturbing that he abandoned it altogether to focus on writing about biology.

Thankfully, Schrodinger was a lovely old chap (and interestingly, also a good friend of Einstein) who had nothing against cats. He never dared to actually try such a nasty experiment on a cat. He only used this as a thought experiment to help understand how something can be in more than one state until we look at it and define it.

What was Schrodinger trying to prove?

What is this thought experiment of his trying to show us? This is where it might get a bit kooky, so we’ll try keep it simple. As we discussed before, Schrodinger’s cat in the box theory is about two possible outcomes existing at the same time. It turns out Schrodinger devised the theory to make a standpoint (backing up his good pal Einstein) in opposition to the “Copenhagen Interpretation“.

The Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum theory, posed by Niels Bohr, states that a quantum particle doesn’t exist in one state or another, but in all of its possible states at once.

Einstein and Schrodinger felt that this theory was incomplete. They poked holes at it by using the example of a large scale object, namely a cat, to show how absurd and impossible the idea of a cat simultaneously existing in two states is.

In 1933 Schrodinger won the Nobel Prize in Physics. And next to Einstein, he’s possibly one of the biggest scientist celebrities to circulate the internet.

Why a cat in a box?

If Schrodinger’s thought experiment questions the very fabric of reality, why use a cat in a box? Well, why not?

We love cats and cats love boxes (read understanding cat behaviour to find out why). You don’t have to be a scientist to understand it. It’s a win-win frame of reference. And many of us will agree that even domestic cats have an air of mystery too.

This was Schrodinger’s quirky way of bringing some sort of simplicity to quantum physics and to understanding how absurd it is.

Schrodinger’s cat is very popular

Whether or not we’re interested in science and quantum mechanics it appears we internet users have a penchant for Schrodinger’s cat.

The high volume of searches for the term has deemed it popular enough for Google’s to doodle it:

And if Google thinks it’s one of the most popular kids in school then who are we to question.

Keep your cat happy and healthy

Whether or not quantum physics is interesting, or even makes sense to you, one thing’s for sure. If you’re a cat mum or dad the main question is how to keep your cat safe, happy and healthy. The simple answer is love, diet, playtime – plenty of boxes – and a pawsome cat insurance plan to help pay for pet healthcare costs like non-routine vet visits, surgery, medicine and more.

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