Schrödinger's Cat: The Quantum Paradox of Life and Death
There is a dialogue by actor Mohanlal in the movie Pakal Nakshatrangal (Day Stars). “Does this world belong to the living or the dead? The number of the dead is so many times more than ours. Aren’t we, the currently living, merely earthworms before their collective strength? Let’s put that aside… What is the guarantee that we are truly alive? Couldn’t the real world… life… be theirs? What if we die and step into a new life…?” Hearing the idea that we might step into another world after death may sound a bit philosophical, but there is a secret the universe has hidden within it. A hapless cat, teetering between life and death. What if the state of a radioactive particle determines the cat's life? Today, we are going to talk about Schrödinger's Cat, the simplest explanation of Quantum Theory—the scientific revolution of the twentieth century. 'Schrödinger’s Cat' is a Gedankenexperiment (Thought Experiment), meaning an experiment that can only be performed through thou...