What is Schrödinger's cat like I'm five?
2 Answers
Okay! Imagine you have a box with a cat inside. Now, inside that box, there’s also a little machine that can release some cat food, but it only does it if a special thing happens—like if a tiny particle decays.
While the box is closed, we don’t know if the particle has decayed or not. That means we can’t know if the cat has been fed or not! So, until we open the box, we can say the cat is both fed and not fed at the same time.
When we open the box to check, we see the cat is either happy (fed) or sad (not fed). Before we looked, the cat was in a super weird situation—like magic! That’s what Schrödinger’s cat is all about: how sometimes things can be both ways until we take a peek!
While the box is closed, we don’t know if the particle has decayed or not. That means we can’t know if the cat has been fed or not! So, until we open the box, we can say the cat is both fed and not fed at the same time.
When we open the box to check, we see the cat is either happy (fed) or sad (not fed). Before we looked, the cat was in a super weird situation—like magic! That’s what Schrödinger’s cat is all about: how sometimes things can be both ways until we take a peek!
Alright, let’s imagine Schrödinger's Cat with a simple story:
Imagine you have a magical box and inside the box, there is a cat. But this is not just any ordinary cat—this is a special cat that is both asleep and awake at the same time! How is that possible? Well, the box is magical in such a way that you can't see what's inside until you open it. So, while the box is closed, the cat is in this strange state of being both asleep and awake.
Here’s why it’s like that: the cat's sleepiness or wakefulness is not determined until you check. Before you open the box, the cat's state is a mystery—it’s as if it's in both states at once. Only when you look inside the box does the cat decide whether it’s asleep or awake.
This idea comes from a thought experiment by a scientist named Erwin Schrödinger. It’s meant to show how strange and puzzling things can get in the world of tiny particles, like atoms, which can be in multiple states at once until we observe them.
Imagine you have a magical box and inside the box, there is a cat. But this is not just any ordinary cat—this is a special cat that is both asleep and awake at the same time! How is that possible? Well, the box is magical in such a way that you can't see what's inside until you open it. So, while the box is closed, the cat is in this strange state of being both asleep and awake.
Here’s why it’s like that: the cat's sleepiness or wakefulness is not determined until you check. Before you open the box, the cat's state is a mystery—it’s as if it's in both states at once. Only when you look inside the box does the cat decide whether it’s asleep or awake.
This idea comes from a thought experiment by a scientist named Erwin Schrödinger. It’s meant to show how strange and puzzling things can get in the world of tiny particles, like atoms, which can be in multiple states at once until we observe them.