Schrodinger's Cat

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Paradoxes extend beyond the area of abstract thought and can be found in areas of science. For example, physics contains multiple paradoxes that occur on a micro level. One example of such a paradox is that of Schrodinger’s Cat. In the example, if a cat were placed in a closed box that contained a radioactive atom that was linked to lethal gas, the cat would neither be dead nor alive. The first reason for this is because the radioactive half-life of an element is when an atom of that given element has a fifty percent chance of radioactive decay. Because of this, the release of the lethal gas inside the box is entirely dependent upon the decay of the atom, which is objectively random, so the cat’s life is dependent upon the randomness of the…show more content…
Schrodinger’s cat outlines two principles that demonstrate this paradoxical nature of the quantum world. The first is Quantum Indeterminacy (Ron, 2010). This principle explains that the occurrence of certain quantum events are themselves indeterminate. For example, the radioactive decay of a radioactive element has no objective cause. This is to say, even though the half-life, or fifty percent chance of radioactive decay, in such an element is real, there is no determined cause for when the element undergoes radioactive decay (Ron, 2010). This is primarily because Quantum Indeterminacy explains quantum events in terms of probability, and given a complete description of a quantum system, the future behavior of that system remains indeterminate. Consequently, the probably behavior of a system would be included in the complete description of said system; this would make the probability as real and objective as the system…show more content…
However, instead of dealing only with states, a superposition can be experienced with regard to location. The example of this is the location of an electron in an orbit around an atom while the velocity is being measured. Such a measurement invokes a superposition in the electron as its location becomes unclear—a function of indeterminacy. This contrasts with the macro-world in that the attributes of an object can be simultaneously measured. For example, when a rock is thrown, both its location and velocity can be measured to determine its trajectory. It would seem fallacious to assume that an individual could only measure a few characteristics of the rock, like location, while others would have to remain indeterminate, like

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