• Question: has anyone got any further anywhere in the world as to how schrodingers cat and other such strange findings work?

    Asked by Lily to Adam, Adele, Deborah, Matt, Samantha on 16 Jun 2017.
    • Photo: Matthew Lee

      Matthew Lee answered on 16 Jun 2017:

      Most of these strange things come out of theoretical physics and quantum mechanics, and theyre called thought experiments. These thought experiments are ways of doing an experiment that you cant do in teh real world quite yet, or they are ways of explaining phenomena. So Schrodingers cat is an example of this, and explains how quantum mechanics works (or in his view the problem with an interpretation of quantum mechanics). But im sure there are scientists around the world who are doing experiments to finally explain completely how these phenomena work.

    • Photo: Adam Hargreaves

      Adam Hargreaves answered on 22 Jun 2017:

      Hi Lily,
      The example I can think of most relevant to schrodingers cat is called quantum entanglement, which is where a pair or group of particles (for example) interact in such a way that you can’t say anything about one particle without also including the others, even if they’re huge distances apart. An example of that can be seen in electrons spinning around an atom, using a machine which allows scientists to visualise electrons even when they’re moving at super fast speeds you can sometimes see one electron jump and appear to be at 2 different locations simultaneously. In that way it’s both at one side of the atom and the other at the same time, just as Schrodingers cat could be both alive and dead. This is getting a lot of interest at the moment for what it could mean for communication over very large distances, and maybe one day teleportation!

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