Late night ramblings . …
All matter and energy exhibits both wave like and particle like properties Particles can be in more than one location at the same time, in multiple states, and act in strange ways. . This is called superposition.
If we assume that subatomic particles behave in certain ways how can we be sure that the actions we take to observe them are not interfering or changing the natural behavior?
I am relating to the old college days humor of Schrödinger’s Cat more and more as a way of dealing with stuff I choose not to deal with right now. Avoidance at it’s max.
Remember the poor cat? Placed in a box along with a radioactive atom? If the atom decays the Geiger counter goes off, a hammer falls and breaks a flask of acid killing the cat. Before the box is opened and the state (dead or alive) of the cat is known – how do we know is it dead or alive? If we assume that subatomic particles behave in certain ways how can we be sure that the actions we take to observe them are not interfering or changing the natural behavior? Nope.
The paradox is that emissions from the radioactive material are completely random, so we cannot know with any certainty the fate of the cat it’s fate is tied to the wave function of the atom, which is itself in a superposition of decayed and un-decayed states. So, until the box is opened the poor cat is dead and alive at the same time.
Until the box is opened there is no way of knowing the fate of the cat it is in a state of superposition. But if the box is opened the superposition dissipates and the cat becomes either dead or alive.
I wonder if everything is made up of particles and sub particles, protons and neutrons, quarks. … Is anything certain – until you open the box? Is something not real if not observed? Can expected outcomes become reality just because you become aware of them? What if everything and everyone is in the state of superposition and we could control what was in the box by merely finding a way to control which state we observed?
Ok, enough I should be sleeping thoughts – wacky but I had to share brah ha ha ha . …