Here’s one of those posts that make people go hmmm . . . Actually, they probably go “hmmm . . .” because they are wondering why I post stuff like this. Well, most are because I like physics, but this one is important for other reasons as well. Superposition is a fundamental part of quantum physics. It is superposition that makes the concept of a quantum computer a possibility. I came across this article by Tim Wogan, a science writer based in the UK, that caught my attention. Remember, no cats were harmed for this article.
The famous paradox of Schrödinger’s cat starts from principles of quantum physics and ends with the bizarre conclusion that a cat can be simultaneously in two physical states – one in which the cat is alive and the other in which it is dead. In real life, however, large objects such as cats clearly don’t exist in a superposition of two or more states and this paradox is usually resolved in terms of quantum decoherence. But now physicists in Canada and Switzerland argue that even if decoherence could be prevented, the difficulty of making perfect measurements would stop us from confirming the cat’s superposition.
Associate Creative Director at bloomfield knoble
